Fiction: Jacket Battle (sorta) - Just Like Me
Title: Just Like Me
Author: Lollobrigida
Fandom: Lost
Pairing: Jack and Juliet
Timeline: This is a "What Could Have Happened" after the events of "I Do"
Rating: NC-17 (sex and hotness abounds - children go away!)
Prompt: "You know what you want and that makes you just like me" - Justin Timberlake 'FutureLoveSexSounds'
Word Count: 10086
Notes: So the Jacket Battle ended, and Liz and I tied, but I still have four fictions that I started but hadn't finished. Slowly but surely they'll get done and posted. This is the one that ate my brain, and the reason I haven't posted the others yet. I have to say a special thanks to Laura4Lad for being my little cheerleader on this one, because I wanted to give up on it so many times. It is rather long, and that is because I actually wrote this more for the actual plot point, not the sex. There is sex though, so don't worry. So once more all errors in grammar are because I suck at grammar, and feedback is hotness. Oh and I don't own rights I just like to play dolls with the pretty people. Have sex my little puppets! Have sex!!
The dull throb started at the base of his skull and seeped into a blinding white noise that echoed through his head. His shoulders ached, and the curve of his spine felt wrong, cramped like he had slept wrong for a week. Shifting over onto his other side the bright light streamed toward his face, a warmth hitting him immediately that he hadn't actually felt in at least a week. The scrape of cement hit his skin suddenly as his senses awakened all in a panicked rush. Sound streamed into recognition, the small chirp of birds and a slight breeze vibrating through thick foliage.
Sitting up sharply brought a new level of discomfort to his body. Bringing his hand around to the base of his neck his fingers pressed hard into muscle, the pressure only stirring a wince of pain from him. Dark eyes blinked open trying to adjust to the light the best that they could, but days of being held in the depths of the Hydra had given him a bit too much sensitivity to the light. A free hand shielded his squinting all while trying to piece together the last events that he could recall.
Clearing his throat felt rough, harsh with a lack of saliva. The twinge of pain hit him again, a dull sensation at the back of his head as he remembered seeing a blur of blonde and pale skin sail toward him in the operating room... with Ben. Jack recalled the incision he made, the choice... the walkie talkie... Kate... telling her to run, then he remembered the quick movement to his left and a low thunking sound.
Then nothing, and now this. His eyes had finally grown used to the natural light and as he glanced around he realized that he was in a cage. His mind raced back to what Kate had told him.
***
"Yeah I'm... I'm great. Where are they keeping you?"
"Outside, in a cage."
"Sawyer?"
"He's in a cage too...."
***
Jack stood up slowly, the throbbing in his head only making every movement a bit harder to tolerate. There was a pinch at his side and as he lifted his arm up tugging at the bottom of his shirt he saw the puncture mark above his hip. Fingertip pressing into the mark he rubbed the smear of dry blood from his skin, trying to sort out just what they had done to him. The only thought that came to him was that if he was in the cage... then Kate wasn't. Sawyer too was gone, but in the back of his mind he recalled seeing them... in that way... before he made his choice to be rid of this island completely.
This was still the island though and as his foot shifted into a deep puddle at the floor of the cage he felt the stagnant water seep into the sole a bit. Lifting his foot out of the water he shook his ankle a bit frustrated with himself, but just letting the emotion filter in beside all the rest of the anger they had cultivated in him.
The routine was the same as before, new territory same methodic pacing that began across the length of the bars before him. Every so often his arm would extend letting fingertips hit against the bars the thwack of skin to metal tugging his entire shoulder back for split second intervals.
The fourteenth time he passed his point of origin he stopped, no real thought passing through his mind just a slow and steady pace that had no purpose except to awaken all his senses. His eyes searched the area, knowing he had watched Kate and Sawyer in these cages... there had to be a camera somewhere. When his eyes tracked it down, high above the trees in the far corner of a building he stared it down. Knowing that someone had to be watching him, waiting for him to wake up... to start the same way he had before.
Start again. History repeats itself.
His nostrils flared with his exhale, short and terse full of spite and hatred. They had failed to break him, so instead they just moved him. Change of scenery to change the point of it all. Just what was the point?
His arms laced through the bars, forearms resting on rusted metal as his hands hung freely. His thumb would roll over his fingers popping knuckles casually as he stared up at that single camera. There had to be others around the complex, but the one he saw... was the only one that mattered.
"I know-" his voice was still strained from yelling during the surgery. Screaming for Kate to run... for her to get safe had been filled with a deafening amount of pain and anguish. Now his words felt harsh and cold, bordering on barely present as he tried once more to clear his throat. "I know you're watching me. I know he died too... too much blood, and with me out cold... you're man died on the table. Ben's gone... so where are you to protect me Juliet??"
His voice elevated growing louder the more he regained his ferocity, "Juliet!!" It screamed out to nothing... to no one and even if she wasn't the one in the viewing room... whoever was there knew now. They knew that she wanted Ben dead, and that was good enough for the time being. It was good enough for Jack.
***
Night was colder, in the open air. No one had come by, not a single person had walked the sidewalk just to the right of the cages. No visitors, no food, no water except the puddle at his feet. He had glanced to it a few times, but couldn't bring himself to admit he was that thirsty. Instead he would press his tongue along the roof of his mouth trying to generate something worth swallowing. A sliver of the moon struggled through the dense clouds and Jack actually took the time to stare up at it. To look for stars that could at least give him some idea of just where he was in relation to where he had been. It was after all the same sky as the one at camp... something at least even They could never change.
Laying there on the concrete slab he laughed to himself, feeling almost foolish for trying to make a play for himself, to try and put himself out of harms way. Getting off the island was a joke to these people he figured. They had the means but they chose to live there, and offered up some half-cooked reasoning behind it all that only a few select people were privy to. Just another pile of lies... just like everything else about this place.
He had exposed one of them at the very least. Juliet, for all her piety and unaffected behavior had betrayed Them. She came to him, she offered her support... her trust, and now he was outside in the cage that had been reserved for someone else.
The sound startled him awake from a moment of half sleep. He was too cautious now to allow himself any actual rest, and his body came alive with ease at the sound of a branch snapping to the left of the cages. A light careful footfall that was feminine at the very least was just in the foreground. He saw the halo of golden hair first her head turned away from him, watching behind her for a moment before her ponytail whipped around revealing those pale eyes to him once more.
Juliet continued her careful steps toward the cage, watching him stalk up to the bars with hesitation. Her hand dug deep into her pocket retrieving a set of keys and flipping casually through them until the one that fit into the lock was sliding into place. The click echoed in his ears, a sound that he almost felt was muted by the heavy creak of steel against rusted steel. The heavy cage door being swung open and a slender arm extending inward, "Come on... there isn't a lot of time."
He wanted to reach out to her, to take her hand and yank her into the cage. Watch her body limply slam into the back wall and collapse to the ground. He wanted to lock her in... to leave her there... and all those images flashed through his mind in vivid color... they were so real to him that his hand withdrew instead of reaching out.
Jack watched her with a darkness, a timid caution over his own body... of his own wants and needs. For the first time since being captured... the thought of freedom actually scared him.
"Jack?" Juliet's tone gave him even more pause, even more reason to resist whatever was actually flooding through his mind. All the split second choices he had made in his life, choosing who lives... and who dies... all of them flooded his conscious. He had made that choice with Ben... unwillingly knowing that the result would be death for him. He could have saved him... even despite everything that had happened his oath wasn't do save his friends... it was to do no harm.
His expression shifted sharply, giving way to doubt and frustration, "Why... why'd you do it? Why didn't you let me save him?" Even in the middle of all his guilt and anguish his mind jumped again, "Kate? Sawyer? Did you even... did you let them get away? Or am I going to be stiching up their wounds later tomorrow morning?" His tone shifted toward the end laced with more venom than curiousity, because in the back of his mind he knew that no one got off this island.
"Jack... I can explain everything but we can't be here. They'll be checking soon, and when I'm not there... when they see I'm gone? Putting what you said earlier together with what I'm doing now? We just don't have time Jack!"
The sudden shrill of panic that was in her voice registered to him immediately, his movement quick toward her there in the doorway of the cage. He didn't take her hand though, instead he pushed past her, feeling her slim frame pressed against his for a moment of contact that gave the vivid images of pain a new suggestion of something else... something he didn't want to think about.
The two of them darted through the thick of the jungle, branches snapping beneath heavy rushed footsteps while fronds of foliage tugged at the loose strands of blonde hair that he was following behind. He kept up with her pace, the reckless turns she made seemed more planned out than he could have realized and the lack of regard to making sure he was still behind her made him more sure that there was a bit more danger to this retreat.
Juliet just kept running, harder and with more determination not letting the fallen trees or tangling of vines get in her way, and Jack followed her unasking of how much further they had to go, or even where they were headed. Jack ran silently, listening only to the lack of noise behind them. There was no one chasing after them, no whispers in the woods... no mysterious clicks or ticking noises that had been synonymous with the jungle late at night, just... nothing.
Almost caught up in the silence he didn't notice her pace slowing down until he was nearly at her back. His breath heated and ragged was being forced out of him in sharp breathes that stung on the way back in. Letting his line of sight fall beyond her shoulder he looked outward and saw something he hadn't expected to see... the shoreline... of a second island.
In that moment his world came to a crashing halt for the third time in only a few months. Jack could count the times that everything changed on that island... and even this... this realization of a lie was something that only took him a moment to adjust to.
"You were going to explain this I hope?" His tone near an abrasive sneer shot out at her with an accusitory look. She turned to him, those stoic features shrouded by the shadows that nightfall gave, and just shook her head in silence.
"I'm sorry Jack... there are so many things that we weren't supposed to.. that I wasn't allowed to tell you. All of it meant to put you closer to what we wanted you for... not even just Ben's surgery... but to stay."
"Stay?? You seriously expected that I would want to stay... with all of you? In all of that?? Why? Because in some minor way you might resemble a woman that I loved? That this," Jack stalked up to her taking the loose ponytail of her hair tightly into his fist. His face moved in close to hers as he tugged at the back of her head, "That this... would make me understand your reasons why?"
When he let go of her hair she was pushed back by the force, her careful footsteps now stumbled over each other as she countered his movement with her own. She didn't return her hand to her hair in any attempt to fix it, or ease the tension that the band holding it together was now causing, she just stood there looking at him.
"He told you. Ben... Ben told you the real reason why it was me... why it was me and not anyone else."
"You," Jack laughed for a moment, a crazed maniacal tone to it as it pitched up before his words started again. "You are nothing like her..." there was a pause as his laughter stopped and a tone of anger and rage built up again, "NOTHING!!"
His scream echoed a bit behind them, falling down the cliff they were standing on, but flooding the space behind them instead. His breathing was shallow and hard, his chest rising and falling quickly as he stood there staring at her, trying to regain his resolve, to allow her to finish whatever speech she had prepared for him.
If he hadn't stopped her, if he hadn't taken that moment to give his breathing a chance to calm down, or for her to finally react he wouldn't have even heard it. The quiet muffled sound of a branch snapping behind them. Beneath a heavy footfall something hadn't been exactly calculated and Juliet heard it too. Her eyes flickering with that panic of recognizing just what could be waiting for them just beyond the line of trees.
Why he hadn't noticed it before was a mystery to him. He had been following her closely through the jungle but the glint of black metal at her backside hadn't creeped into his vision, but when her hand reached back behind her and retrieved the gun he wished he had seen it sooner. Her one hand tipped back, as the other clicked the safety off and slide the mechanism into place cocking the gun, letting the bullet slide into it's rightful place in the barrel. Jack had seen this side of Juliet, the calmness... the fearless stare into the darkness, he had seen it through glass and now he was seeing it up close.
"Now, now, now Juliet... we don't want to be making anymore rash choices today. Already had enough loss on our hands."
The drawl of the deep voice was of the man Jack had demanded the walkie talkie from during Ben's surgery. His name faltered his memory, but Jack knew him just the same. His arms were held up in an almost mock surrender, but Jack knew that no matter what happened in the next few moments... it wasn't going to end well.
"Just put the gun down, and we'll all talk Juliet. We all understand why you did it... made that choice with Ben? We'd seen the way he treated you... the way you felt it was unfair. Hell half the time we saw him push it too far too... you pointed it out. We all get it... just don't make any more mistakes Juliet. You can end this now... you can end this by just putting the gun down and giving us back the Doctor."
"Fuck you Pickett." Jack was startled by the cold harshness to her tone, Juliet who had been the calm one, the kind words and soft curve of a smile had all that anger too.
"You saw him... you saw what he did to Alex... how he lied to that poor girl... Claire? You think that was right too? We tried to take her baby!! Just let us go... let us leave and I won't cause any more trouble. Start over Pickett... just let us go."
Start over. Jack heard the words and wondered how many times this world was going to have to start over again. Pickett... the name seemed to fit, but Jack wasn't fixed on the words anymore, just on the steady hand on Juliet wrapped to the handle of the gun and the slow steps that Pickett kept making toward them.
"Just give me the gun... we'll talk it over. We all want to talk about this Juliet... just hand me the gun. It'll be okay, trust me."
Jack heard it a moment before it happened. The tick of her finger against the trigger forced his eyes to flinch shut before she even fired the shot off. Her arm bucked only slightly the force of her shot barely making her startle. The sight of a single bullet hole in the chest of Pickett was minor to the stream of red staining the flannel of his shirt. His body fell to the ground; eyes startled open in shock that she had actually done it.
Jack's instinct was to help him, to rush to his side and rip the shirt off him and see where the bullet had gone in. Secondary to that thought though was that Juliet knew what she was doing, and by the time the thought to move was triggered in Jack, Pickett was already dead.
Her grip was quick to his wrist, "We've got to move Jack. The rest will come." The tugging to his arm that followed broke off quickly as she made her way to the edge of the cliffs. Glancing down she pointed to a dock, where the boat that they had taken the day Colleen was shot was tethered. "There... I know where to sail... we'll be off this island... away from all this in two days. I know the way... but you have to trust me."
It was all happening too fast. Jack could see the thin trail that led down the mountainside toward the beach, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to trust himself anymore. "Why... why are you doing this? Why save me?"
"Because you are just like me..."
Jack laughed again, his hand rubbing to the back of his head as he looked out to the ocean again, "I am nothing like you Juliet."
"You know what you want and that makes you just like me," her words were to the point and without any hesitation. "It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that Jack. One thing can bring us together, or you can chose everything else that pulls us apart... but you have to make a choice now."
Jack took a single moment to weigh his options, which weren't very many. He could leave with Juliet, leave the island... leave everything behind once more... or he could stay and take his chances with whoever else was out there. It would have been pure stupidity to stay behind, but Jack couldn't help but let his thoughts drift to the rest of the survivors of Flight 815... still on the other island... still struggling for survival.
This was what he had wanted though, he wanted off the island... to put the horizon in the foreground of his life instead of always turning back inland. He had made a deal with Ben, but it was Juliet that was handing him the option of freedom once more. Jack's silence was almost an answer in itself, his weight shifting on the balls of his feet for only a moments hesitation before he shook it off his shoulders and moved toward Juliet. "Come on, I want off this fucking island now."
Juliet barely nodded in response to him, heading down the narrow trail with a quick short spaced step that neared abrupt each time she had to ease up to keep her footing. Jack's own stride seemed a bit lopsided, as he lumbered down the path with an unusual amount of grace considering his size and the incline they were descending. The last few feet of their trip were even quicker as Juliet let her stride extend beyond what it was supposed to, landing with ease on the rocks where the beach met with the cliffs. The distance from the cliff walls to the dock felt like miles given the amount they had already traversed, but still when his footsteps began to echo against the surface of the water he realized he would have run even further if he had to.
***
It was an hour of silence, the hum of the engine filling the quiet as the waves crashed against the bow. Jack leaned against the rails glancing over to Juliet who was standing there letting the hair whip freely in the wind. He had known that she had it in her... the ability to take a life. Seeing it though shifted things in his mind a bit. It wasn't exactly a risk she had taken to save him... it was to save herself. Standing up and steadying himself for a moment against the crash of a wave he moved toward her, "Hey... back there... you did what you had to do."
His voice must have cut into her thoughts as she startled beside him. Turning her gaze to meet his, he was taken aback by the clarity in her eyes. There wasn't a trace of regret or remorse, even though she had just killed a man a little less than two hours ago. When she didn't respond to him he simply turned his back to her and headed back below deck to try and put some space between them, even though they had never been close enough for it to matter.
***
His elbows were resting hard against his knees, his hands holding his head up in a gentle recline as his fingertips rubbed back and forth across the back of his head. The dull ache was still low to his head, from where Juliet had hit him the night before in surgery. Her steps fell against the steps down below deck his gaze lifting up from the ground to catch her wince of a reaction to the graze he put against the wound.
"That was me... instrument tray?"
"Sorry?" Jack was a bit confused as to what she was talking about until it clicked that she had hit him with the metal tray that had been used to hold the sterile instruments for the surgery. Nodding he let a smile crack across his features for the first time since the fleeting moments of crazed laughter. It was a real smile that faded almost as quickly as it came. "I was wondering... it's fine. A dull ache now. This though..." Jack twisted to the side again tugging his shirt up to reveal the puncture wound, "What was this?"
Juliet's eyes focused where he directed and she shook her head, "It was nothing, supposed to be a tranquilizer for the move to the cages. You were out cold though, which again... sorry. It was just saline."
Jack nodded his finger rubbing at the mark again before putting his shirt back in place and turning his gaze back to hers. She was leaning against the steps her arms folded in a pose he had grown all too familiar with over the days. Rubbing his palm across his features he exhaled a bit, "Are you... okay? I know I mentioned it earlier... but there isn't much else I really want to talk about. Any answers you could have given me seem pointless now..." his head fell back down, staring to the ground his shoe pressing hard to the toe of the other one.
"Jack," her tone was more than apologetic, it was heartfelt and full of empathy. He could tell she wanted to explain, give him some reason to allow her behavior to have some deeper meaning, but his dismissive exhalation gave her pause and she bit back all the words she would have said to him. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, because they were headed away from it all now.
Changing the subject quickly his hand rubbed up across his face to the top of his head for a moment, "So what are you going to do? I mean... back home... back... its not home for you is it?"
"Not really. Maybe a while ago, but you're right. My home has been those cookie cutter houses and strict guidelines and expectations. Not much of a home though... not much of anything." Her tone had shifted in those few sentences and she turned away from him heading back to the deck. He watched her as she slipped away through the entrance, and in a moment of instinct he threw away the notion that he really didn't care about her and headed up after her.
"Juliet," he called lightly after her catching her in mid stride as she twisted around to meet his eyes. "I don't know what to say to you... in all honesty you were the last person I ever expected to be," his head dropped down staring to the glossy finish of the deck, "I mean I'm sailing back home with you. It's not exactly an ideal situation... for either of us."
"It's not so bad," her voice dropped off a bit almost as if she wanted to bite back the words as soon as she spoke them. Jack picked up a hint of a blush before she turned away. Shaking his head a bit short on words he continued until he was along side her. His longer stride kept getting cut short to keep up with her as she made her way to the stern of the boat.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But Ben didn't pick me just for that reason you know... I mean... I know you don't want to talk about it, but I did know a lot about you before we even found out about Sarah. It wasn't all so clear cut... it wasn't just one day either. Three days in we got the list, and from that day forward you were all we focused on... just to save Ben... just to give him... life, survival... something he didn't deserve."
Juliet paused in her recount of whatever she felt she needed to get off her chest, Jack standing there unsure if he would feel any better about it when she was done or not, but hesitant to make her stop. "Juliet, you don't need to explain, really... it's not going to change anything anymore. Me knowing, not knowing... it's a chapter of my life I'd sooner close."
Juliet could only nod to him, trying not to force her explanation on him anymore, but unable to just let it sit there. "It could change what you think of me," Juliet's voice was low near a whisper as she let the words slip from her lips before she turned and moved from him again. Jack felt like he was constantly chasing after answers he didn't want anymore, chasing after a blonde that he didn't want to know... but still he chased after her.
There wasn't far for her to go, the narrow passage of the boat made most of her steps unsure using the railings as support before his hand gripped to her wrist with enough force to make him actually realize he needed to ease up on her. "Do you even know what I think of you now? Do you think I see you as that same woman that brought me Kate just with the impression that because I cared for her... because I shared two months at her side that she'd be the one to make me listen? That you shot that man cold in his steps and haven't even thought about it since then? You killed him Juliet! You could have killed me instead..."
Jack could hardly believe the words that came from his mouth, the pure honesty of his want to just die back in that jungle because he wasn't sure the world he was returning to would even want him back...
Without much else to say he returned below leaving her up there in the cold air, leaving her to think about chasing his answers instead.
***
It was an unsteady amount of weight that he felt kneel beside him, stirring him from the light sleep he allowed the rocking of the ocean to lull him into. She let a soft apology slip from her lips, but he barely heard it. It could have been the sway of the ocean, or the lack of light in the cabin that made his thoughts drift away from himself. The faint hint of her shampoo filled his senses as the boat shifted again sending her down against him with enough force to stir a slight groan from her. Sure hands gripped to her shoulders helping her up off his body, even though for that brief moment of contact he wanted to hesitate... to let her linger against him for a bit longer.
Contact made him human, it made him remember what it was like to have something there... to have something worth actually having in a split second choice. Jack's life was slowly turning away from existence and blurring into a series of split second choices that he had made... wrong. Sarah, his father, the kiss that night in a parking lot... even as a kid he stuck his neck out where it didn't belong and it always came back around to him. All the choices he made, all ended him up on that one flight out of hundreds... thousands, and that one flight landed him on that island. Where more choices were made at the price of others... of himself... of people that he barely knew.
Juliet was standing beside the sink in the cabin, the boat no longer moving just swaying against the current of waves. In the dim light that came from the opening in the stairway he kept catching sight of her hands fixing the bottom of her shirt, readjusting buttons and pockets almost as if it was force of habit, or something for her to do with her hands for pure restlessness.
"Do you want to sleep? I can stay on deck... let you rest?"
"I don't think I could sleep even if I wanted to," her voice was still low and soft and there was something in that courtesy that Jack appreciated. The smile she showed him hinted more in her eyes than in the curve of her lips as she turned to face him. The lack of light didn't hide the pale color of her eyes that Jack was slowly becoming transfixed by. He hated looking at her, seeing her as more than just another one of Them. Still his mind held onto all the moments that could have been seen as more than just a simple ploy to earn trust. The word trust itself spoken from her lips so many times that he could have believed it himself, if Ben hadn't filled his head with Sarah.
Jack's hand went back to his neck once more, the soreness from the blunt stroke to his head was fading even as Jack pressed his fingertips into the hollow point at the top of his neck. Pinching his eyes shut he pressed against his neck, rubbing the tension away, easing a kink that had formed from trying to sleep against his arm in the cages, and now here on the boat. He heard her move toward him, but kept his eyes shut even as her fingers soft and delicate pressed to his neck.
"Here?"
Jack heard her ask, and couldn't will himself to respond to her. He allowed the touch though, that pressing contact that made him human again. The light kneading of her fingers, the roll of her thumb against his skin eased more than he realized had built up. The shift of weight behind him was felt as she moved to sit behind him. Her knees grazing across his back until they rested on opposite sides of his hips. Silently he just shifted to give her more room in the already cramped space. Her hands ran across his shoulders, thumbs continuing their motions across muscle working into knots that he always knew were there. The warmth of her hands building up against the fabric of his shirt, making him almost wish he could just take it off. Feel the pads of her fingers right against his flesh... make the contact even more real.
Instead of giving into that small notion Jack just let himself sink into the feeling of her hands against his back. The slight brushing of her hair against his neck as she shifted around behind him and the casual graze of her breast against his spine. It was more than likely only a few moments of attention that she gave him as she rubbed her hands against his back relaxing his mind as much as his body felt. When she stopped though, the warmth of her palm rubbing against his shoulders as she eased out from behind him, his eyes startled open staring at his feet for a moment watching the floor as her feet came into view as well. His head lifted up meeting her eyes for the first time in what felt like a lot longer than he had expected.
Just as quickly as his eyes met hers she turned away and started for the stairs heading back up to the deck to shift the sails once more to hopefully catch a wind in order to get them moving once more. Jack acted on impulse rising to his feet quickly with an ease that came with the relaxed state that he was in. His hand gripped to her wrist stopping her in her first step up the ladder. Her brow furrowed in a moment of slight confusion, unsure of what he expected... of what he wanted of her.
"Jack?"
There was no answer available to him; he couldn't sort out what his body was trying to force into his mind. Shaking his head he shrugged it off, "Nevermind."
***
He wasn't exactly sure when he had fallen back asleep, and the notion that it was actually a deep enough sleep for him to be slightly startled awake surprised him for the moment. The gentle give of the mattress underneath his side, was the only hint to the presence of Juliet sitting on the furthest edge of the bed that she could allow. With only a slight hesitation Jack found himself pressing his hand against the small of her back, giving her a moment of support when the boat shifted once more. Her movement although subtle before stopped altogether when he touched her. Jack could almost feel her breath hitch up inside of her as he just let his hand rest there. The soft ends of her hair just above his fingertips hinted at something he had already had his hands entwined within. He recalled tugging hard at her hair, the moments of pure rage filtered onto her in the tank.
Jack let his mind flood with the sense memory that he tried not to hold onto all those days as he paced the confines of his cell. The curve of her frame fitting against his body as he dragged her down the hallway, the clean scent of her hair as he let himself force her against a wall pinning her there... knowing that he had no where else to go.
Jack wanted to laugh at the irony of his own thoughts, the way that they still kept him trapped behind some guise of being unable to do anything but sink further into the darkness. When she finally moved, twisting her body around to let her eyes meet his... all he could see was the light. The pale blue that shone with such hope for something he was almost certain he hadn't wanted until now. Studying her for a moment he watched her eyes flicker with doubt, falling across his features as she was trying to see something that he wasn't sure was there for her to find.
The truth of it was that none of it really mattered anymore. The man he was... who they had been back on that island could have been a thousand different variations of themselves... but here all they were... was here.
Jack's hand slid across her back and around her side, fingertips easily fitting beneath the loose fabric of her shirt. The skin he found was soft and warm to the touch, a slight flinch of muscle beneath his palm as he pulled her backward onto the small mattress beside him. A strong hand moved to cradle her face for a moment, pulling along her cheek, tipping her features up to meet his until he could taste her breath upon his lips. That fiery moment of hesitation between them, eyes searching for meaning or a lack there of... just for anything that made what was about to happen okay.
When he couldn't find it, he rushed into her regardless. His mouth collided into hers in a moment that was barely coordinated enough to be a kiss. A parting of lips more full of teeth and heavy breathing, neither of them allowing the other to find some sort of synchronism to their movements. When her lips finally caught against his there was this lull to the rocking that even he knew she should have noticed, still he pushed it to the back of his mind letting his hands press against newfound skin across her back. Fingertips pressed along her spine as his tongue sought out hers. The kiss that a moment ago he thought would never actually start showed no hint at never actually stopping.
Juliet fit beside him almost too perfectly, the way he could pull her into his body and feel nothing but the warmth of her figure made everything else seem too far-fetched. The notion of Juliet pressed against him, her hips pressed flush to his as her delicate touch hinted just beneath the waistline of his jeans... it all was almost too much to take in. Instead of letting his thoughts overwhelm him though, he slid them all aside and brought his hand around to fit between their bodies.
He found the soft surface of her stomach easily, palm pressing against her as it moved upward beneath her shirt. All the softest hints of sound she made were swallowed by his mouth still fused against hers with an intensity that was far from easing up. When his fingertips bumped into the wire support of her bra, Jack let his fingers bend slightly pressing down to just beneath the support until he could feel the pressure against the top of short nails. That slight give of clothing allowed his hand to slide across the surface of her breast, fingers reaching for the peak of her curves as his palm felt the slow stiffening of her nipple against his touch. The heel of his hand pressed her curves up against his fingertips, allowing the fullness of her to fit against his hand perfectly. The contact caused Juliet's teeth to graze against Jack's tongue in her mouth, pulling gently before he could feel her tongue force into his mouth bringing their kiss to a new level of deepness.
Jack felt the sudden shift of Juliet waiting for it to end, to realizing that it had just begun and he took it all in. He felt the relaxation of her body against his, the way her hips pressed against his more directly, with more intent. Her hands had found their way further into the back of his jeans, the elastic of his boxers being pressed against light touches of her fingertips. The collision of their bodies had been a build up over hours, days, near a week and in the darkness of the cabin Jack wondered why he even could measure it in any amount of time. Allowing himself to give it this sort of value, this build up of events made it real, and reality wasn't what Jack needed.
Hearing Juliet wince in pain brought him out of his thoughts, the coppery taste brushing against his tongue as his kiss pulled back slightly. His lips had barely parted from hers when he felt her draw back upward pulling him into her once more. The sting of pain she had to feel sated by the warmth of his tongue pressing against the small split in her lower lip. Heavy handed he withdrew from beneath her shirt, taking a firm hold of the bottom hem and tugging it upward urging it off of her body. Jack could feel her hands leaving the safety of his back pressing between their bodies, helping with the removal of her shirt. With her hands occupied at the moment Jack shifted backward away from her, his head nearly colliding with the wall of the boat as his own shirt peeled up over his head and was tossed to the floor.
Letting their eyes meet once more was the only trigger they needed to resume the heated kiss and pressing contact of each other. Jacks fingers pressed together the clasp of her bra letting the fabric shift loosely against his chest before straps feel down her shoulders. It took a simple shift of her arms and the article of clothing was discarded along with their shirts. The fullness of her was firmly pressed up against his body, the firm points of her nipples dragging against his chest as she kept shifting closer into him.
His breathing had already gone beyond ragged, now pulling deep breathes inward any chance he could as her lips fell from his for brief moments. The stinging he felt in his lungs was brief as he allowed his hands to run across the curve of her spine downward until they moved back into the waistline of her pants once more. Juliet's hands had been against his back, nails lightly biting into muscle and when his hands moved to below her navel she brought her own hands around to the button closure of her pants. Jack could feel her knuckles brushing against his skin as she worked quickly to unfasten the front of her pants. With her hips shifting against him he let out a strained groan as her movements to rid herself of another article of clothing put new pressure against his own growing arousal.
The low sound that he let slip from parted lips was taken into Juliet as soon as it hit the air. Her lips quenching his unspoken need for that intimate contact again as he felt her fingers working at his jeans as well. Soon all he could feel was the slender lines of her legs slinking against his thighs and calves. Jack let his knee slip between her legs, feeling a slight bit of tension holding taut to his leg until he let it rise up to the join of her thighs. A damp heat was radiating against his thigh as Jack let it press up against Juliet. He took all the moans and pleas of encouragement from her mouth and into his own with his kiss. His tongue snaking against hers, a slow sweeping motion that felt more real than any pain he had felt before that moment.
Each time they let their mouths part, gasping for air Jack could barely count the moments until he wanted to taste her again. A steady hand pressed firmly against the small of her back, fingertips brushing beyond the edge of elastic tight around her hips. A light touch against the curve of her down until it brushed to the second restriction of elastic this time at the top of her thigh. Jack allowed a subtle shift of his hand to brush lightly across her center. His thigh still pressed against her allowed for little freedom of movement between her legs. A gasp came sharply from Juliet as his touch grazed the slickness that had been waiting for him beneath the thin barrier of cotton around her waist.
Jack let the warm wetness that was against his fingertips overwhelm his senses for a moment. The sounds, low and heavy from Juliet fed his ego further letting his finger press teasingly at her opening. The slight feigning pressure stirred a sharp plea from her lips. Jack thought that in that moment he could have kept her hovering on that edge for a while. Listening to her beg him for more contact, feeling her hips struggling to shift up onto his fingers, forcing him into her. All of it could have just been a brutal moment of noncommittal, but Jack felt Juliet's hand press against his cock in that same moment. The curving of her fingers pressed around his shaft, and the slow rhythm starting through flimsy material of his boxers. Jack took his turn hissing air inward as he felt her fingers release him only to slip down across his stomach tugging at his hips urging his boxers off of him.
A warm palm greeted his erection the moment it was freed from his boxers, pressing him against her thighs, already allowing for a silent plea of some form of reciprocation of contact. Jack let his eyes shut tightly for a moment trying to block the thoughts that clouded his head with lust and a raw demand for her. He bit his lower lip for a moment wincing at the sharpness of teeth against his own flesh before realizing that he had to give into it all.
In one fluid motion Jack slipped his hand beneath her side still resting along side him and pulled her atop him. Hands gripped to the backs of her knees pulling her legs up to kneeling above his waist. Licking his lips he stared at her, the pale skin hit with the slightest amount of light from somewhere undetermined. Hungry hands roamed across her stomach, his thumb catching against her navel for a moment before it swept toward her hips. Gripping firm to her side Jack's fingers bit possessively into her flesh, Juliet bringing her body down to be flush to his once more, almost silently guessing that he wanted to feel that warmth against his chest again. The grasp he had against her side shifted along with her movements until his palm found purchase against the smooth curve of her ass.
Jack could feel the warmth of her breath as her mouth pressed to his neck, the low insistence of pleas and moans that escaped from her between sharp inhalations. Her body was flush to his, their body heat permeating the surface of skin that was shared between them. Jack let his other hand roam across her back, fingertips pressing into slight ridges in her spine as they pressed her closer to him. Her body was shifting against him slowly, the slow pressure of her breasts to his chest, the wetness of her tongue lapping against the rough drag of the perpetual stubble on his jawline.
Jack turned his attention to the thin material that was keeping him from sliding into her with ease. Her panties already stretched out at the edges and wet at the center seemed almost pointless. Juliet allowed Jack to tug harshly at them yanking them down as far as he could, her own hands shifting off his body to finish the tedious task that would allow her exactly what she wanted. He felt her toes pushing against his shins the cotton being pressed to the mattress beneath them in a quick motion. Jack could feel the entire length of her body pressed atop him. The slender curve of her hips, the fullness of her breasts pressed hard to his chest, all of it wasn't nearly enough for him in that moment.
Jack's hands ran down the backs of her thighs, heavy hands reaching the middle of her flesh and tugging her legs along himself. Jack's thighs felt her knees brought up closer to his hips, the slickness of her sex hovering so close to the tip of him that he had to hold a breath in his lungs just to keep his focus. The slight soft sound of her laughter hit his ears, a wicked grin gracing her features in the low light of the cabin. Her hand had lay claim to his cock once more, her palm pressing along him a slow stroke running the length of him for a moment before he knew she was guiding herself to him.
Jack felt her heat first, the brief contact forced him to hiss air inward through clenched teeth. He wondered how he had managed to get to this point, the sheer pressure he could feel pressed against himself as she teased herself with his erection. The angle shifted his cock in her grip slightly, just enough to give him a new sensation of pleasure as she stroked the length of her sex with him. He let her use him like that... feeling her saturate his skin, letting the trace of fluid from him mingle along with the wetness that felt better than just the straight contact of her.
There was a sudden realization from him that she knew what she was doing, more than just the way she held him, more than the way her grip would slide against him touching herself for a moment before returning to him... Juliet knew what she was capable of doing to him, and she was making sure he knew it too. Maybe it was the thought of that, or the moment of realization that pulled him out of the lust filled haze he had been in, but before he could even sort his own thoughts out she shifted her hips and slide herself onto him.
Jack groaned from the tightness that surrounded his cock, his head pressing hard into the pillow that he had been using for support. Juliet's tongue traced up along his throat, extended as he cried out her name just for her to hear it. The second her name slipped from his lips he felt her teeth nip sharply against skin inciting a low gravelly moan from him as well. Jack let her body adjust to his presence fully engulfed in her heat, just letting the wetness surround him letting him feel every slight shift of her hips against him.
When Juliet started to move against him Jack's hands gripped hard to her hips helping her thrust atop him, shifting his own hips in sync with her steady motions until they built up a cadence of thrusts and a fluidity that was pushing Jack closer to a point of near loss of control. Despite her efforts and the feeling of her hot and tight against him it wasn't enough to have her above him. There wasn't quite enough room, but he managed to take hold of her thighs, rolling her to her side and then pinning her back to the mattress.
His mouth met to hers for the first time in what felt like a lot longer than it had been. His tongue searched within her mouth, seeking out the pressure of her tongue entwining against his. The strength of his grip guided her leg up along side him, his knees pressing into the bed, a free hand supporting him up slightly. It was a slow and steady motion as he began his thrusting, feeling her now, her hips rising up to meet his, every shift of her pressed against the length of him as he built up a new rhythm within her.
Parting from her lips let a gasp escape her, hitting the heated air fueling his ego, and giving him something to commit to. Jack wanted to hear all the sounds, he wanted to make her cry out the way she had made him earlier. For the moment everything about the act was about want... about an intense moment that was just flesh and sin. It was an act filled with a blurred line of right and wrong, a moment fueled with heated words, and pleas for it to never stop. Jack couldn't sort out the words of pleasure from the demands for more, harder and faster. Jack gave into every plea, every whim of movement she craved.
Her legs spindled across his, hitching up against his hips, letting her hips rise up toward him. Jack was in her so deep but he wanted further, he wanted his hips to vanish into hers, to force her thighs apart as wide as she could permit just to push into her a fraction of an inch further. Reciprocating his desire she let her thighs part, pressing as far toward the mattress as she could, allowing him deeper into her, allowing him to succumb to the fantasy he barely knew existed before that moment.
Leaning into her with another hard driving motion Jack's face pressed to her shoulder, wisps of her hair brushing against his mouth, tucking into the corners of his lips as he panted in time with her.
"Jack," her voice hit his ears with a slight strain to it, coming out of her with a low need laced with a groan of ecstasy lilted up at the end of the single syllable. Jack let his hand slip from her thigh to tangle up into the blonde hair that was warm from his breath. Fingers laced with blonde, and his mouth dragging up along her jaw Jack's tongue brushed across his lips each time he pulled from her features, meeting her pale eyes with the darkness of his. His hand planted along side her hip, lifting his upper body up for a moment. Juliet cried out with the shift of him hard inside her. His cock rubbing against every little flutter of tension within her as she clenched hard against him, it was almost enough for him to get pushed over the edge he had been clinging to for a while.
Rather than give in, rather than just let everything go Jack opted to hold it in, to watch... to let Juliet climax against him. He wanted her to give in, to surrender to him... to give up the resistance to him. "Juliet," his voice was strained, low and hoarse against her ear as he bent down to meet her skin with his lips. He could hear only the heavy pant of her breath hitching up in her with each thrust of his hips pushing his cock deeper. He could barely make out her urge of a moan that could have been discerned as her response to his words.
"Juliet," he said her name again, this time the word stretching out to end with a sharp thrust that gave her name a new sense of meaning. "Come for me, I want to feel it... make me want to come for you." Each word, made more perfect with each withdrawal and re-entry into her. The tighter she grew against him, the harder he wanted his motions to drive into her. Each sound she let hit the air, each time her breath caught up in her lungs and no sound came from her, every lack of noise Jack took into him letting it just drive him to a point that as soon as she cried out he had to force himself not to give in with her.
Jack felt Juliet clench tight around his cock, feeling every single spasm as she writhed beneath him, the string of curse words flowing from her lips were filtered through him and went right to the burning pool of lust that had been building since he entered her. She was barely finished still gripping her thighs against his hips, still shifting her core up against him, the wetness of her sex nearly dripping against her inner thighs as he continued into her.
When it hit him, when he let himself give into to the moment she was still riding him hard, drawing her own orgasm out as much as she could against his motions. He felt the pinch of pleasure deep within him for a split second before his entire body felt flush. The surge of his climax rushed through him making his entire body tight against her. Jack pushed with a single motion filling her with his hardness once more, the wetness of her, the heat gripping tight to him was near a blinding white heat that only felt better once he came. His arms shifted, slipping beneath her holding her tight to his body as he clenched atop her. Groans slipped from his lips as she urged him further with a slight rolling of her hips up into his lap still pressed hard against her thighs.
Everything flooded through his senses as he let his arousal ease off the high it had been on with Juliet. The dark room felt smaller wrapped so tight to Juliet, her legs still holding steadfast to his form, keeping him within her even after the aftershocks of her climax had stilled within her. Slight trembles and shudders stirred from her as he moved away from her. Withdrawing from her letting his seed spill against her inner thigh, he felt her hand brush against his cheek forcing him to meet her eyes again. He didn't hear a word from her, but there was a moment of stillness shared between them, almost a common understanding that there was nothing else hidden between their actions.
Jack watched kneeling on the mattress as her slender legs shifted from beside him pulling to the side allowing to sit on the edge of the bed. She still had a more relaxed presence to her, a calmness that seemed mirrored within himself. Jack watched her intently as she redressed as best she could. He wanted to reach out to her, to brush the stray hairs off her face... to give them meaning... because he hadn't been that guy in so long...
Jack knew though, that Juliet had let him be that guy, she accepted the flaws and the urges that even he couldn't just explain away. He knew that and still he let her walk away from him and return to the deck above.
***
Morning came earlier than he could recall. The few moments of actual night when Colleen died had set his body clock a bit off more than it had been already. Lack of light, lack of day and night had put a toll on his body and mind that even he couldn't comprehend until daylight proved it to him. His hips ached with a dull pain that he felt deep into his joints, standing up took a bit of focus even against the waves that the boat was still surging against. His hand rubbed across his features, a faint hint of Juliet's sex still lingering against his fingers. The flicker of a memory flooded his mind almost making him hard again, but he pushed it to the back of his mind urging himself to actually wake up and get out of the bed that he had felt he had taken up residence at for far too long.
Inhaling the stale air of the cabin Jack moved around toward the sink letting the water run cold enough for him to splash some on his face in an attempt to wake up. His fingers gripped against the edge of the sink as he leaned over it staring at the drain for a moment. He was out of his element, half expecting to hear the sound of a swinging door at his right and the comforting tone of a scrub nurse asking him if he needed anything else before surgery.
He glanced toward the stairs, trying to force himself back to reality... away from the nightmares he knew he would have for months, maybe years to come. Jack needed to go back to the real world... because the fantasy was barely a memory now.
Author: Lollobrigida
Fandom: Lost
Pairing: Jack and Juliet
Timeline: This is a "What Could Have Happened" after the events of "I Do"
Rating: NC-17 (sex and hotness abounds - children go away!)
Prompt: "You know what you want and that makes you just like me" - Justin Timberlake 'FutureLoveSexSounds'
Word Count: 10086
Notes: So the Jacket Battle ended, and Liz and I tied, but I still have four fictions that I started but hadn't finished. Slowly but surely they'll get done and posted. This is the one that ate my brain, and the reason I haven't posted the others yet. I have to say a special thanks to Laura4Lad for being my little cheerleader on this one, because I wanted to give up on it so many times. It is rather long, and that is because I actually wrote this more for the actual plot point, not the sex. There is sex though, so don't worry. So once more all errors in grammar are because I suck at grammar, and feedback is hotness. Oh and I don't own rights I just like to play dolls with the pretty people. Have sex my little puppets! Have sex!!
The dull throb started at the base of his skull and seeped into a blinding white noise that echoed through his head. His shoulders ached, and the curve of his spine felt wrong, cramped like he had slept wrong for a week. Shifting over onto his other side the bright light streamed toward his face, a warmth hitting him immediately that he hadn't actually felt in at least a week. The scrape of cement hit his skin suddenly as his senses awakened all in a panicked rush. Sound streamed into recognition, the small chirp of birds and a slight breeze vibrating through thick foliage.
Sitting up sharply brought a new level of discomfort to his body. Bringing his hand around to the base of his neck his fingers pressed hard into muscle, the pressure only stirring a wince of pain from him. Dark eyes blinked open trying to adjust to the light the best that they could, but days of being held in the depths of the Hydra had given him a bit too much sensitivity to the light. A free hand shielded his squinting all while trying to piece together the last events that he could recall.
Clearing his throat felt rough, harsh with a lack of saliva. The twinge of pain hit him again, a dull sensation at the back of his head as he remembered seeing a blur of blonde and pale skin sail toward him in the operating room... with Ben. Jack recalled the incision he made, the choice... the walkie talkie... Kate... telling her to run, then he remembered the quick movement to his left and a low thunking sound.
Then nothing, and now this. His eyes had finally grown used to the natural light and as he glanced around he realized that he was in a cage. His mind raced back to what Kate had told him.
***
"Yeah I'm... I'm great. Where are they keeping you?"
"Outside, in a cage."
"Sawyer?"
"He's in a cage too...."
***
Jack stood up slowly, the throbbing in his head only making every movement a bit harder to tolerate. There was a pinch at his side and as he lifted his arm up tugging at the bottom of his shirt he saw the puncture mark above his hip. Fingertip pressing into the mark he rubbed the smear of dry blood from his skin, trying to sort out just what they had done to him. The only thought that came to him was that if he was in the cage... then Kate wasn't. Sawyer too was gone, but in the back of his mind he recalled seeing them... in that way... before he made his choice to be rid of this island completely.
This was still the island though and as his foot shifted into a deep puddle at the floor of the cage he felt the stagnant water seep into the sole a bit. Lifting his foot out of the water he shook his ankle a bit frustrated with himself, but just letting the emotion filter in beside all the rest of the anger they had cultivated in him.
The routine was the same as before, new territory same methodic pacing that began across the length of the bars before him. Every so often his arm would extend letting fingertips hit against the bars the thwack of skin to metal tugging his entire shoulder back for split second intervals.
The fourteenth time he passed his point of origin he stopped, no real thought passing through his mind just a slow and steady pace that had no purpose except to awaken all his senses. His eyes searched the area, knowing he had watched Kate and Sawyer in these cages... there had to be a camera somewhere. When his eyes tracked it down, high above the trees in the far corner of a building he stared it down. Knowing that someone had to be watching him, waiting for him to wake up... to start the same way he had before.
Start again. History repeats itself.
His nostrils flared with his exhale, short and terse full of spite and hatred. They had failed to break him, so instead they just moved him. Change of scenery to change the point of it all. Just what was the point?
His arms laced through the bars, forearms resting on rusted metal as his hands hung freely. His thumb would roll over his fingers popping knuckles casually as he stared up at that single camera. There had to be others around the complex, but the one he saw... was the only one that mattered.
"I know-" his voice was still strained from yelling during the surgery. Screaming for Kate to run... for her to get safe had been filled with a deafening amount of pain and anguish. Now his words felt harsh and cold, bordering on barely present as he tried once more to clear his throat. "I know you're watching me. I know he died too... too much blood, and with me out cold... you're man died on the table. Ben's gone... so where are you to protect me Juliet??"
His voice elevated growing louder the more he regained his ferocity, "Juliet!!" It screamed out to nothing... to no one and even if she wasn't the one in the viewing room... whoever was there knew now. They knew that she wanted Ben dead, and that was good enough for the time being. It was good enough for Jack.
***
Night was colder, in the open air. No one had come by, not a single person had walked the sidewalk just to the right of the cages. No visitors, no food, no water except the puddle at his feet. He had glanced to it a few times, but couldn't bring himself to admit he was that thirsty. Instead he would press his tongue along the roof of his mouth trying to generate something worth swallowing. A sliver of the moon struggled through the dense clouds and Jack actually took the time to stare up at it. To look for stars that could at least give him some idea of just where he was in relation to where he had been. It was after all the same sky as the one at camp... something at least even They could never change.
Laying there on the concrete slab he laughed to himself, feeling almost foolish for trying to make a play for himself, to try and put himself out of harms way. Getting off the island was a joke to these people he figured. They had the means but they chose to live there, and offered up some half-cooked reasoning behind it all that only a few select people were privy to. Just another pile of lies... just like everything else about this place.
He had exposed one of them at the very least. Juliet, for all her piety and unaffected behavior had betrayed Them. She came to him, she offered her support... her trust, and now he was outside in the cage that had been reserved for someone else.
The sound startled him awake from a moment of half sleep. He was too cautious now to allow himself any actual rest, and his body came alive with ease at the sound of a branch snapping to the left of the cages. A light careful footfall that was feminine at the very least was just in the foreground. He saw the halo of golden hair first her head turned away from him, watching behind her for a moment before her ponytail whipped around revealing those pale eyes to him once more.
Juliet continued her careful steps toward the cage, watching him stalk up to the bars with hesitation. Her hand dug deep into her pocket retrieving a set of keys and flipping casually through them until the one that fit into the lock was sliding into place. The click echoed in his ears, a sound that he almost felt was muted by the heavy creak of steel against rusted steel. The heavy cage door being swung open and a slender arm extending inward, "Come on... there isn't a lot of time."
He wanted to reach out to her, to take her hand and yank her into the cage. Watch her body limply slam into the back wall and collapse to the ground. He wanted to lock her in... to leave her there... and all those images flashed through his mind in vivid color... they were so real to him that his hand withdrew instead of reaching out.
Jack watched her with a darkness, a timid caution over his own body... of his own wants and needs. For the first time since being captured... the thought of freedom actually scared him.
"Jack?" Juliet's tone gave him even more pause, even more reason to resist whatever was actually flooding through his mind. All the split second choices he had made in his life, choosing who lives... and who dies... all of them flooded his conscious. He had made that choice with Ben... unwillingly knowing that the result would be death for him. He could have saved him... even despite everything that had happened his oath wasn't do save his friends... it was to do no harm.
His expression shifted sharply, giving way to doubt and frustration, "Why... why'd you do it? Why didn't you let me save him?" Even in the middle of all his guilt and anguish his mind jumped again, "Kate? Sawyer? Did you even... did you let them get away? Or am I going to be stiching up their wounds later tomorrow morning?" His tone shifted toward the end laced with more venom than curiousity, because in the back of his mind he knew that no one got off this island.
"Jack... I can explain everything but we can't be here. They'll be checking soon, and when I'm not there... when they see I'm gone? Putting what you said earlier together with what I'm doing now? We just don't have time Jack!"
The sudden shrill of panic that was in her voice registered to him immediately, his movement quick toward her there in the doorway of the cage. He didn't take her hand though, instead he pushed past her, feeling her slim frame pressed against his for a moment of contact that gave the vivid images of pain a new suggestion of something else... something he didn't want to think about.
The two of them darted through the thick of the jungle, branches snapping beneath heavy rushed footsteps while fronds of foliage tugged at the loose strands of blonde hair that he was following behind. He kept up with her pace, the reckless turns she made seemed more planned out than he could have realized and the lack of regard to making sure he was still behind her made him more sure that there was a bit more danger to this retreat.
Juliet just kept running, harder and with more determination not letting the fallen trees or tangling of vines get in her way, and Jack followed her unasking of how much further they had to go, or even where they were headed. Jack ran silently, listening only to the lack of noise behind them. There was no one chasing after them, no whispers in the woods... no mysterious clicks or ticking noises that had been synonymous with the jungle late at night, just... nothing.
Almost caught up in the silence he didn't notice her pace slowing down until he was nearly at her back. His breath heated and ragged was being forced out of him in sharp breathes that stung on the way back in. Letting his line of sight fall beyond her shoulder he looked outward and saw something he hadn't expected to see... the shoreline... of a second island.
In that moment his world came to a crashing halt for the third time in only a few months. Jack could count the times that everything changed on that island... and even this... this realization of a lie was something that only took him a moment to adjust to.
"You were going to explain this I hope?" His tone near an abrasive sneer shot out at her with an accusitory look. She turned to him, those stoic features shrouded by the shadows that nightfall gave, and just shook her head in silence.
"I'm sorry Jack... there are so many things that we weren't supposed to.. that I wasn't allowed to tell you. All of it meant to put you closer to what we wanted you for... not even just Ben's surgery... but to stay."
"Stay?? You seriously expected that I would want to stay... with all of you? In all of that?? Why? Because in some minor way you might resemble a woman that I loved? That this," Jack stalked up to her taking the loose ponytail of her hair tightly into his fist. His face moved in close to hers as he tugged at the back of her head, "That this... would make me understand your reasons why?"
When he let go of her hair she was pushed back by the force, her careful footsteps now stumbled over each other as she countered his movement with her own. She didn't return her hand to her hair in any attempt to fix it, or ease the tension that the band holding it together was now causing, she just stood there looking at him.
"He told you. Ben... Ben told you the real reason why it was me... why it was me and not anyone else."
"You," Jack laughed for a moment, a crazed maniacal tone to it as it pitched up before his words started again. "You are nothing like her..." there was a pause as his laughter stopped and a tone of anger and rage built up again, "NOTHING!!"
His scream echoed a bit behind them, falling down the cliff they were standing on, but flooding the space behind them instead. His breathing was shallow and hard, his chest rising and falling quickly as he stood there staring at her, trying to regain his resolve, to allow her to finish whatever speech she had prepared for him.
If he hadn't stopped her, if he hadn't taken that moment to give his breathing a chance to calm down, or for her to finally react he wouldn't have even heard it. The quiet muffled sound of a branch snapping behind them. Beneath a heavy footfall something hadn't been exactly calculated and Juliet heard it too. Her eyes flickering with that panic of recognizing just what could be waiting for them just beyond the line of trees.
Why he hadn't noticed it before was a mystery to him. He had been following her closely through the jungle but the glint of black metal at her backside hadn't creeped into his vision, but when her hand reached back behind her and retrieved the gun he wished he had seen it sooner. Her one hand tipped back, as the other clicked the safety off and slide the mechanism into place cocking the gun, letting the bullet slide into it's rightful place in the barrel. Jack had seen this side of Juliet, the calmness... the fearless stare into the darkness, he had seen it through glass and now he was seeing it up close.
"Now, now, now Juliet... we don't want to be making anymore rash choices today. Already had enough loss on our hands."
The drawl of the deep voice was of the man Jack had demanded the walkie talkie from during Ben's surgery. His name faltered his memory, but Jack knew him just the same. His arms were held up in an almost mock surrender, but Jack knew that no matter what happened in the next few moments... it wasn't going to end well.
"Just put the gun down, and we'll all talk Juliet. We all understand why you did it... made that choice with Ben? We'd seen the way he treated you... the way you felt it was unfair. Hell half the time we saw him push it too far too... you pointed it out. We all get it... just don't make any more mistakes Juliet. You can end this now... you can end this by just putting the gun down and giving us back the Doctor."
"Fuck you Pickett." Jack was startled by the cold harshness to her tone, Juliet who had been the calm one, the kind words and soft curve of a smile had all that anger too.
"You saw him... you saw what he did to Alex... how he lied to that poor girl... Claire? You think that was right too? We tried to take her baby!! Just let us go... let us leave and I won't cause any more trouble. Start over Pickett... just let us go."
Start over. Jack heard the words and wondered how many times this world was going to have to start over again. Pickett... the name seemed to fit, but Jack wasn't fixed on the words anymore, just on the steady hand on Juliet wrapped to the handle of the gun and the slow steps that Pickett kept making toward them.
"Just give me the gun... we'll talk it over. We all want to talk about this Juliet... just hand me the gun. It'll be okay, trust me."
Jack heard it a moment before it happened. The tick of her finger against the trigger forced his eyes to flinch shut before she even fired the shot off. Her arm bucked only slightly the force of her shot barely making her startle. The sight of a single bullet hole in the chest of Pickett was minor to the stream of red staining the flannel of his shirt. His body fell to the ground; eyes startled open in shock that she had actually done it.
Jack's instinct was to help him, to rush to his side and rip the shirt off him and see where the bullet had gone in. Secondary to that thought though was that Juliet knew what she was doing, and by the time the thought to move was triggered in Jack, Pickett was already dead.
Her grip was quick to his wrist, "We've got to move Jack. The rest will come." The tugging to his arm that followed broke off quickly as she made her way to the edge of the cliffs. Glancing down she pointed to a dock, where the boat that they had taken the day Colleen was shot was tethered. "There... I know where to sail... we'll be off this island... away from all this in two days. I know the way... but you have to trust me."
It was all happening too fast. Jack could see the thin trail that led down the mountainside toward the beach, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to trust himself anymore. "Why... why are you doing this? Why save me?"
"Because you are just like me..."
Jack laughed again, his hand rubbing to the back of his head as he looked out to the ocean again, "I am nothing like you Juliet."
"You know what you want and that makes you just like me," her words were to the point and without any hesitation. "It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that Jack. One thing can bring us together, or you can chose everything else that pulls us apart... but you have to make a choice now."
Jack took a single moment to weigh his options, which weren't very many. He could leave with Juliet, leave the island... leave everything behind once more... or he could stay and take his chances with whoever else was out there. It would have been pure stupidity to stay behind, but Jack couldn't help but let his thoughts drift to the rest of the survivors of Flight 815... still on the other island... still struggling for survival.
This was what he had wanted though, he wanted off the island... to put the horizon in the foreground of his life instead of always turning back inland. He had made a deal with Ben, but it was Juliet that was handing him the option of freedom once more. Jack's silence was almost an answer in itself, his weight shifting on the balls of his feet for only a moments hesitation before he shook it off his shoulders and moved toward Juliet. "Come on, I want off this fucking island now."
Juliet barely nodded in response to him, heading down the narrow trail with a quick short spaced step that neared abrupt each time she had to ease up to keep her footing. Jack's own stride seemed a bit lopsided, as he lumbered down the path with an unusual amount of grace considering his size and the incline they were descending. The last few feet of their trip were even quicker as Juliet let her stride extend beyond what it was supposed to, landing with ease on the rocks where the beach met with the cliffs. The distance from the cliff walls to the dock felt like miles given the amount they had already traversed, but still when his footsteps began to echo against the surface of the water he realized he would have run even further if he had to.
***
It was an hour of silence, the hum of the engine filling the quiet as the waves crashed against the bow. Jack leaned against the rails glancing over to Juliet who was standing there letting the hair whip freely in the wind. He had known that she had it in her... the ability to take a life. Seeing it though shifted things in his mind a bit. It wasn't exactly a risk she had taken to save him... it was to save herself. Standing up and steadying himself for a moment against the crash of a wave he moved toward her, "Hey... back there... you did what you had to do."
His voice must have cut into her thoughts as she startled beside him. Turning her gaze to meet his, he was taken aback by the clarity in her eyes. There wasn't a trace of regret or remorse, even though she had just killed a man a little less than two hours ago. When she didn't respond to him he simply turned his back to her and headed back below deck to try and put some space between them, even though they had never been close enough for it to matter.
***
His elbows were resting hard against his knees, his hands holding his head up in a gentle recline as his fingertips rubbed back and forth across the back of his head. The dull ache was still low to his head, from where Juliet had hit him the night before in surgery. Her steps fell against the steps down below deck his gaze lifting up from the ground to catch her wince of a reaction to the graze he put against the wound.
"That was me... instrument tray?"
"Sorry?" Jack was a bit confused as to what she was talking about until it clicked that she had hit him with the metal tray that had been used to hold the sterile instruments for the surgery. Nodding he let a smile crack across his features for the first time since the fleeting moments of crazed laughter. It was a real smile that faded almost as quickly as it came. "I was wondering... it's fine. A dull ache now. This though..." Jack twisted to the side again tugging his shirt up to reveal the puncture wound, "What was this?"
Juliet's eyes focused where he directed and she shook her head, "It was nothing, supposed to be a tranquilizer for the move to the cages. You were out cold though, which again... sorry. It was just saline."
Jack nodded his finger rubbing at the mark again before putting his shirt back in place and turning his gaze back to hers. She was leaning against the steps her arms folded in a pose he had grown all too familiar with over the days. Rubbing his palm across his features he exhaled a bit, "Are you... okay? I know I mentioned it earlier... but there isn't much else I really want to talk about. Any answers you could have given me seem pointless now..." his head fell back down, staring to the ground his shoe pressing hard to the toe of the other one.
"Jack," her tone was more than apologetic, it was heartfelt and full of empathy. He could tell she wanted to explain, give him some reason to allow her behavior to have some deeper meaning, but his dismissive exhalation gave her pause and she bit back all the words she would have said to him. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, because they were headed away from it all now.
Changing the subject quickly his hand rubbed up across his face to the top of his head for a moment, "So what are you going to do? I mean... back home... back... its not home for you is it?"
"Not really. Maybe a while ago, but you're right. My home has been those cookie cutter houses and strict guidelines and expectations. Not much of a home though... not much of anything." Her tone had shifted in those few sentences and she turned away from him heading back to the deck. He watched her as she slipped away through the entrance, and in a moment of instinct he threw away the notion that he really didn't care about her and headed up after her.
"Juliet," he called lightly after her catching her in mid stride as she twisted around to meet his eyes. "I don't know what to say to you... in all honesty you were the last person I ever expected to be," his head dropped down staring to the glossy finish of the deck, "I mean I'm sailing back home with you. It's not exactly an ideal situation... for either of us."
"It's not so bad," her voice dropped off a bit almost as if she wanted to bite back the words as soon as she spoke them. Jack picked up a hint of a blush before she turned away. Shaking his head a bit short on words he continued until he was along side her. His longer stride kept getting cut short to keep up with her as she made her way to the stern of the boat.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But Ben didn't pick me just for that reason you know... I mean... I know you don't want to talk about it, but I did know a lot about you before we even found out about Sarah. It wasn't all so clear cut... it wasn't just one day either. Three days in we got the list, and from that day forward you were all we focused on... just to save Ben... just to give him... life, survival... something he didn't deserve."
Juliet paused in her recount of whatever she felt she needed to get off her chest, Jack standing there unsure if he would feel any better about it when she was done or not, but hesitant to make her stop. "Juliet, you don't need to explain, really... it's not going to change anything anymore. Me knowing, not knowing... it's a chapter of my life I'd sooner close."
Juliet could only nod to him, trying not to force her explanation on him anymore, but unable to just let it sit there. "It could change what you think of me," Juliet's voice was low near a whisper as she let the words slip from her lips before she turned and moved from him again. Jack felt like he was constantly chasing after answers he didn't want anymore, chasing after a blonde that he didn't want to know... but still he chased after her.
There wasn't far for her to go, the narrow passage of the boat made most of her steps unsure using the railings as support before his hand gripped to her wrist with enough force to make him actually realize he needed to ease up on her. "Do you even know what I think of you now? Do you think I see you as that same woman that brought me Kate just with the impression that because I cared for her... because I shared two months at her side that she'd be the one to make me listen? That you shot that man cold in his steps and haven't even thought about it since then? You killed him Juliet! You could have killed me instead..."
Jack could hardly believe the words that came from his mouth, the pure honesty of his want to just die back in that jungle because he wasn't sure the world he was returning to would even want him back...
Without much else to say he returned below leaving her up there in the cold air, leaving her to think about chasing his answers instead.
***
It was an unsteady amount of weight that he felt kneel beside him, stirring him from the light sleep he allowed the rocking of the ocean to lull him into. She let a soft apology slip from her lips, but he barely heard it. It could have been the sway of the ocean, or the lack of light in the cabin that made his thoughts drift away from himself. The faint hint of her shampoo filled his senses as the boat shifted again sending her down against him with enough force to stir a slight groan from her. Sure hands gripped to her shoulders helping her up off his body, even though for that brief moment of contact he wanted to hesitate... to let her linger against him for a bit longer.
Contact made him human, it made him remember what it was like to have something there... to have something worth actually having in a split second choice. Jack's life was slowly turning away from existence and blurring into a series of split second choices that he had made... wrong. Sarah, his father, the kiss that night in a parking lot... even as a kid he stuck his neck out where it didn't belong and it always came back around to him. All the choices he made, all ended him up on that one flight out of hundreds... thousands, and that one flight landed him on that island. Where more choices were made at the price of others... of himself... of people that he barely knew.
Juliet was standing beside the sink in the cabin, the boat no longer moving just swaying against the current of waves. In the dim light that came from the opening in the stairway he kept catching sight of her hands fixing the bottom of her shirt, readjusting buttons and pockets almost as if it was force of habit, or something for her to do with her hands for pure restlessness.
"Do you want to sleep? I can stay on deck... let you rest?"
"I don't think I could sleep even if I wanted to," her voice was still low and soft and there was something in that courtesy that Jack appreciated. The smile she showed him hinted more in her eyes than in the curve of her lips as she turned to face him. The lack of light didn't hide the pale color of her eyes that Jack was slowly becoming transfixed by. He hated looking at her, seeing her as more than just another one of Them. Still his mind held onto all the moments that could have been seen as more than just a simple ploy to earn trust. The word trust itself spoken from her lips so many times that he could have believed it himself, if Ben hadn't filled his head with Sarah.
Jack's hand went back to his neck once more, the soreness from the blunt stroke to his head was fading even as Jack pressed his fingertips into the hollow point at the top of his neck. Pinching his eyes shut he pressed against his neck, rubbing the tension away, easing a kink that had formed from trying to sleep against his arm in the cages, and now here on the boat. He heard her move toward him, but kept his eyes shut even as her fingers soft and delicate pressed to his neck.
"Here?"
Jack heard her ask, and couldn't will himself to respond to her. He allowed the touch though, that pressing contact that made him human again. The light kneading of her fingers, the roll of her thumb against his skin eased more than he realized had built up. The shift of weight behind him was felt as she moved to sit behind him. Her knees grazing across his back until they rested on opposite sides of his hips. Silently he just shifted to give her more room in the already cramped space. Her hands ran across his shoulders, thumbs continuing their motions across muscle working into knots that he always knew were there. The warmth of her hands building up against the fabric of his shirt, making him almost wish he could just take it off. Feel the pads of her fingers right against his flesh... make the contact even more real.
Instead of giving into that small notion Jack just let himself sink into the feeling of her hands against his back. The slight brushing of her hair against his neck as she shifted around behind him and the casual graze of her breast against his spine. It was more than likely only a few moments of attention that she gave him as she rubbed her hands against his back relaxing his mind as much as his body felt. When she stopped though, the warmth of her palm rubbing against his shoulders as she eased out from behind him, his eyes startled open staring at his feet for a moment watching the floor as her feet came into view as well. His head lifted up meeting her eyes for the first time in what felt like a lot longer than he had expected.
Just as quickly as his eyes met hers she turned away and started for the stairs heading back up to the deck to shift the sails once more to hopefully catch a wind in order to get them moving once more. Jack acted on impulse rising to his feet quickly with an ease that came with the relaxed state that he was in. His hand gripped to her wrist stopping her in her first step up the ladder. Her brow furrowed in a moment of slight confusion, unsure of what he expected... of what he wanted of her.
"Jack?"
There was no answer available to him; he couldn't sort out what his body was trying to force into his mind. Shaking his head he shrugged it off, "Nevermind."
***
He wasn't exactly sure when he had fallen back asleep, and the notion that it was actually a deep enough sleep for him to be slightly startled awake surprised him for the moment. The gentle give of the mattress underneath his side, was the only hint to the presence of Juliet sitting on the furthest edge of the bed that she could allow. With only a slight hesitation Jack found himself pressing his hand against the small of her back, giving her a moment of support when the boat shifted once more. Her movement although subtle before stopped altogether when he touched her. Jack could almost feel her breath hitch up inside of her as he just let his hand rest there. The soft ends of her hair just above his fingertips hinted at something he had already had his hands entwined within. He recalled tugging hard at her hair, the moments of pure rage filtered onto her in the tank.
Jack let his mind flood with the sense memory that he tried not to hold onto all those days as he paced the confines of his cell. The curve of her frame fitting against his body as he dragged her down the hallway, the clean scent of her hair as he let himself force her against a wall pinning her there... knowing that he had no where else to go.
Jack wanted to laugh at the irony of his own thoughts, the way that they still kept him trapped behind some guise of being unable to do anything but sink further into the darkness. When she finally moved, twisting her body around to let her eyes meet his... all he could see was the light. The pale blue that shone with such hope for something he was almost certain he hadn't wanted until now. Studying her for a moment he watched her eyes flicker with doubt, falling across his features as she was trying to see something that he wasn't sure was there for her to find.
The truth of it was that none of it really mattered anymore. The man he was... who they had been back on that island could have been a thousand different variations of themselves... but here all they were... was here.
Jack's hand slid across her back and around her side, fingertips easily fitting beneath the loose fabric of her shirt. The skin he found was soft and warm to the touch, a slight flinch of muscle beneath his palm as he pulled her backward onto the small mattress beside him. A strong hand moved to cradle her face for a moment, pulling along her cheek, tipping her features up to meet his until he could taste her breath upon his lips. That fiery moment of hesitation between them, eyes searching for meaning or a lack there of... just for anything that made what was about to happen okay.
When he couldn't find it, he rushed into her regardless. His mouth collided into hers in a moment that was barely coordinated enough to be a kiss. A parting of lips more full of teeth and heavy breathing, neither of them allowing the other to find some sort of synchronism to their movements. When her lips finally caught against his there was this lull to the rocking that even he knew she should have noticed, still he pushed it to the back of his mind letting his hands press against newfound skin across her back. Fingertips pressed along her spine as his tongue sought out hers. The kiss that a moment ago he thought would never actually start showed no hint at never actually stopping.
Juliet fit beside him almost too perfectly, the way he could pull her into his body and feel nothing but the warmth of her figure made everything else seem too far-fetched. The notion of Juliet pressed against him, her hips pressed flush to his as her delicate touch hinted just beneath the waistline of his jeans... it all was almost too much to take in. Instead of letting his thoughts overwhelm him though, he slid them all aside and brought his hand around to fit between their bodies.
He found the soft surface of her stomach easily, palm pressing against her as it moved upward beneath her shirt. All the softest hints of sound she made were swallowed by his mouth still fused against hers with an intensity that was far from easing up. When his fingertips bumped into the wire support of her bra, Jack let his fingers bend slightly pressing down to just beneath the support until he could feel the pressure against the top of short nails. That slight give of clothing allowed his hand to slide across the surface of her breast, fingers reaching for the peak of her curves as his palm felt the slow stiffening of her nipple against his touch. The heel of his hand pressed her curves up against his fingertips, allowing the fullness of her to fit against his hand perfectly. The contact caused Juliet's teeth to graze against Jack's tongue in her mouth, pulling gently before he could feel her tongue force into his mouth bringing their kiss to a new level of deepness.
Jack felt the sudden shift of Juliet waiting for it to end, to realizing that it had just begun and he took it all in. He felt the relaxation of her body against his, the way her hips pressed against his more directly, with more intent. Her hands had found their way further into the back of his jeans, the elastic of his boxers being pressed against light touches of her fingertips. The collision of their bodies had been a build up over hours, days, near a week and in the darkness of the cabin Jack wondered why he even could measure it in any amount of time. Allowing himself to give it this sort of value, this build up of events made it real, and reality wasn't what Jack needed.
Hearing Juliet wince in pain brought him out of his thoughts, the coppery taste brushing against his tongue as his kiss pulled back slightly. His lips had barely parted from hers when he felt her draw back upward pulling him into her once more. The sting of pain she had to feel sated by the warmth of his tongue pressing against the small split in her lower lip. Heavy handed he withdrew from beneath her shirt, taking a firm hold of the bottom hem and tugging it upward urging it off of her body. Jack could feel her hands leaving the safety of his back pressing between their bodies, helping with the removal of her shirt. With her hands occupied at the moment Jack shifted backward away from her, his head nearly colliding with the wall of the boat as his own shirt peeled up over his head and was tossed to the floor.
Letting their eyes meet once more was the only trigger they needed to resume the heated kiss and pressing contact of each other. Jacks fingers pressed together the clasp of her bra letting the fabric shift loosely against his chest before straps feel down her shoulders. It took a simple shift of her arms and the article of clothing was discarded along with their shirts. The fullness of her was firmly pressed up against his body, the firm points of her nipples dragging against his chest as she kept shifting closer into him.
His breathing had already gone beyond ragged, now pulling deep breathes inward any chance he could as her lips fell from his for brief moments. The stinging he felt in his lungs was brief as he allowed his hands to run across the curve of her spine downward until they moved back into the waistline of her pants once more. Juliet's hands had been against his back, nails lightly biting into muscle and when his hands moved to below her navel she brought her own hands around to the button closure of her pants. Jack could feel her knuckles brushing against his skin as she worked quickly to unfasten the front of her pants. With her hips shifting against him he let out a strained groan as her movements to rid herself of another article of clothing put new pressure against his own growing arousal.
The low sound that he let slip from parted lips was taken into Juliet as soon as it hit the air. Her lips quenching his unspoken need for that intimate contact again as he felt her fingers working at his jeans as well. Soon all he could feel was the slender lines of her legs slinking against his thighs and calves. Jack let his knee slip between her legs, feeling a slight bit of tension holding taut to his leg until he let it rise up to the join of her thighs. A damp heat was radiating against his thigh as Jack let it press up against Juliet. He took all the moans and pleas of encouragement from her mouth and into his own with his kiss. His tongue snaking against hers, a slow sweeping motion that felt more real than any pain he had felt before that moment.
Each time they let their mouths part, gasping for air Jack could barely count the moments until he wanted to taste her again. A steady hand pressed firmly against the small of her back, fingertips brushing beyond the edge of elastic tight around her hips. A light touch against the curve of her down until it brushed to the second restriction of elastic this time at the top of her thigh. Jack allowed a subtle shift of his hand to brush lightly across her center. His thigh still pressed against her allowed for little freedom of movement between her legs. A gasp came sharply from Juliet as his touch grazed the slickness that had been waiting for him beneath the thin barrier of cotton around her waist.
Jack let the warm wetness that was against his fingertips overwhelm his senses for a moment. The sounds, low and heavy from Juliet fed his ego further letting his finger press teasingly at her opening. The slight feigning pressure stirred a sharp plea from her lips. Jack thought that in that moment he could have kept her hovering on that edge for a while. Listening to her beg him for more contact, feeling her hips struggling to shift up onto his fingers, forcing him into her. All of it could have just been a brutal moment of noncommittal, but Jack felt Juliet's hand press against his cock in that same moment. The curving of her fingers pressed around his shaft, and the slow rhythm starting through flimsy material of his boxers. Jack took his turn hissing air inward as he felt her fingers release him only to slip down across his stomach tugging at his hips urging his boxers off of him.
A warm palm greeted his erection the moment it was freed from his boxers, pressing him against her thighs, already allowing for a silent plea of some form of reciprocation of contact. Jack let his eyes shut tightly for a moment trying to block the thoughts that clouded his head with lust and a raw demand for her. He bit his lower lip for a moment wincing at the sharpness of teeth against his own flesh before realizing that he had to give into it all.
In one fluid motion Jack slipped his hand beneath her side still resting along side him and pulled her atop him. Hands gripped to the backs of her knees pulling her legs up to kneeling above his waist. Licking his lips he stared at her, the pale skin hit with the slightest amount of light from somewhere undetermined. Hungry hands roamed across her stomach, his thumb catching against her navel for a moment before it swept toward her hips. Gripping firm to her side Jack's fingers bit possessively into her flesh, Juliet bringing her body down to be flush to his once more, almost silently guessing that he wanted to feel that warmth against his chest again. The grasp he had against her side shifted along with her movements until his palm found purchase against the smooth curve of her ass.
Jack could feel the warmth of her breath as her mouth pressed to his neck, the low insistence of pleas and moans that escaped from her between sharp inhalations. Her body was flush to his, their body heat permeating the surface of skin that was shared between them. Jack let his other hand roam across her back, fingertips pressing into slight ridges in her spine as they pressed her closer to him. Her body was shifting against him slowly, the slow pressure of her breasts to his chest, the wetness of her tongue lapping against the rough drag of the perpetual stubble on his jawline.
Jack turned his attention to the thin material that was keeping him from sliding into her with ease. Her panties already stretched out at the edges and wet at the center seemed almost pointless. Juliet allowed Jack to tug harshly at them yanking them down as far as he could, her own hands shifting off his body to finish the tedious task that would allow her exactly what she wanted. He felt her toes pushing against his shins the cotton being pressed to the mattress beneath them in a quick motion. Jack could feel the entire length of her body pressed atop him. The slender curve of her hips, the fullness of her breasts pressed hard to his chest, all of it wasn't nearly enough for him in that moment.
Jack's hands ran down the backs of her thighs, heavy hands reaching the middle of her flesh and tugging her legs along himself. Jack's thighs felt her knees brought up closer to his hips, the slickness of her sex hovering so close to the tip of him that he had to hold a breath in his lungs just to keep his focus. The slight soft sound of her laughter hit his ears, a wicked grin gracing her features in the low light of the cabin. Her hand had lay claim to his cock once more, her palm pressing along him a slow stroke running the length of him for a moment before he knew she was guiding herself to him.
Jack felt her heat first, the brief contact forced him to hiss air inward through clenched teeth. He wondered how he had managed to get to this point, the sheer pressure he could feel pressed against himself as she teased herself with his erection. The angle shifted his cock in her grip slightly, just enough to give him a new sensation of pleasure as she stroked the length of her sex with him. He let her use him like that... feeling her saturate his skin, letting the trace of fluid from him mingle along with the wetness that felt better than just the straight contact of her.
There was a sudden realization from him that she knew what she was doing, more than just the way she held him, more than the way her grip would slide against him touching herself for a moment before returning to him... Juliet knew what she was capable of doing to him, and she was making sure he knew it too. Maybe it was the thought of that, or the moment of realization that pulled him out of the lust filled haze he had been in, but before he could even sort his own thoughts out she shifted her hips and slide herself onto him.
Jack groaned from the tightness that surrounded his cock, his head pressing hard into the pillow that he had been using for support. Juliet's tongue traced up along his throat, extended as he cried out her name just for her to hear it. The second her name slipped from his lips he felt her teeth nip sharply against skin inciting a low gravelly moan from him as well. Jack let her body adjust to his presence fully engulfed in her heat, just letting the wetness surround him letting him feel every slight shift of her hips against him.
When Juliet started to move against him Jack's hands gripped hard to her hips helping her thrust atop him, shifting his own hips in sync with her steady motions until they built up a cadence of thrusts and a fluidity that was pushing Jack closer to a point of near loss of control. Despite her efforts and the feeling of her hot and tight against him it wasn't enough to have her above him. There wasn't quite enough room, but he managed to take hold of her thighs, rolling her to her side and then pinning her back to the mattress.
His mouth met to hers for the first time in what felt like a lot longer than it had been. His tongue searched within her mouth, seeking out the pressure of her tongue entwining against his. The strength of his grip guided her leg up along side him, his knees pressing into the bed, a free hand supporting him up slightly. It was a slow and steady motion as he began his thrusting, feeling her now, her hips rising up to meet his, every shift of her pressed against the length of him as he built up a new rhythm within her.
Parting from her lips let a gasp escape her, hitting the heated air fueling his ego, and giving him something to commit to. Jack wanted to hear all the sounds, he wanted to make her cry out the way she had made him earlier. For the moment everything about the act was about want... about an intense moment that was just flesh and sin. It was an act filled with a blurred line of right and wrong, a moment fueled with heated words, and pleas for it to never stop. Jack couldn't sort out the words of pleasure from the demands for more, harder and faster. Jack gave into every plea, every whim of movement she craved.
Her legs spindled across his, hitching up against his hips, letting her hips rise up toward him. Jack was in her so deep but he wanted further, he wanted his hips to vanish into hers, to force her thighs apart as wide as she could permit just to push into her a fraction of an inch further. Reciprocating his desire she let her thighs part, pressing as far toward the mattress as she could, allowing him deeper into her, allowing him to succumb to the fantasy he barely knew existed before that moment.
Leaning into her with another hard driving motion Jack's face pressed to her shoulder, wisps of her hair brushing against his mouth, tucking into the corners of his lips as he panted in time with her.
"Jack," her voice hit his ears with a slight strain to it, coming out of her with a low need laced with a groan of ecstasy lilted up at the end of the single syllable. Jack let his hand slip from her thigh to tangle up into the blonde hair that was warm from his breath. Fingers laced with blonde, and his mouth dragging up along her jaw Jack's tongue brushed across his lips each time he pulled from her features, meeting her pale eyes with the darkness of his. His hand planted along side her hip, lifting his upper body up for a moment. Juliet cried out with the shift of him hard inside her. His cock rubbing against every little flutter of tension within her as she clenched hard against him, it was almost enough for him to get pushed over the edge he had been clinging to for a while.
Rather than give in, rather than just let everything go Jack opted to hold it in, to watch... to let Juliet climax against him. He wanted her to give in, to surrender to him... to give up the resistance to him. "Juliet," his voice was strained, low and hoarse against her ear as he bent down to meet her skin with his lips. He could hear only the heavy pant of her breath hitching up in her with each thrust of his hips pushing his cock deeper. He could barely make out her urge of a moan that could have been discerned as her response to his words.
"Juliet," he said her name again, this time the word stretching out to end with a sharp thrust that gave her name a new sense of meaning. "Come for me, I want to feel it... make me want to come for you." Each word, made more perfect with each withdrawal and re-entry into her. The tighter she grew against him, the harder he wanted his motions to drive into her. Each sound she let hit the air, each time her breath caught up in her lungs and no sound came from her, every lack of noise Jack took into him letting it just drive him to a point that as soon as she cried out he had to force himself not to give in with her.
Jack felt Juliet clench tight around his cock, feeling every single spasm as she writhed beneath him, the string of curse words flowing from her lips were filtered through him and went right to the burning pool of lust that had been building since he entered her. She was barely finished still gripping her thighs against his hips, still shifting her core up against him, the wetness of her sex nearly dripping against her inner thighs as he continued into her.
When it hit him, when he let himself give into to the moment she was still riding him hard, drawing her own orgasm out as much as she could against his motions. He felt the pinch of pleasure deep within him for a split second before his entire body felt flush. The surge of his climax rushed through him making his entire body tight against her. Jack pushed with a single motion filling her with his hardness once more, the wetness of her, the heat gripping tight to him was near a blinding white heat that only felt better once he came. His arms shifted, slipping beneath her holding her tight to his body as he clenched atop her. Groans slipped from his lips as she urged him further with a slight rolling of her hips up into his lap still pressed hard against her thighs.
Everything flooded through his senses as he let his arousal ease off the high it had been on with Juliet. The dark room felt smaller wrapped so tight to Juliet, her legs still holding steadfast to his form, keeping him within her even after the aftershocks of her climax had stilled within her. Slight trembles and shudders stirred from her as he moved away from her. Withdrawing from her letting his seed spill against her inner thigh, he felt her hand brush against his cheek forcing him to meet her eyes again. He didn't hear a word from her, but there was a moment of stillness shared between them, almost a common understanding that there was nothing else hidden between their actions.
Jack watched kneeling on the mattress as her slender legs shifted from beside him pulling to the side allowing to sit on the edge of the bed. She still had a more relaxed presence to her, a calmness that seemed mirrored within himself. Jack watched her intently as she redressed as best she could. He wanted to reach out to her, to brush the stray hairs off her face... to give them meaning... because he hadn't been that guy in so long...
Jack knew though, that Juliet had let him be that guy, she accepted the flaws and the urges that even he couldn't just explain away. He knew that and still he let her walk away from him and return to the deck above.
***
Morning came earlier than he could recall. The few moments of actual night when Colleen died had set his body clock a bit off more than it had been already. Lack of light, lack of day and night had put a toll on his body and mind that even he couldn't comprehend until daylight proved it to him. His hips ached with a dull pain that he felt deep into his joints, standing up took a bit of focus even against the waves that the boat was still surging against. His hand rubbed across his features, a faint hint of Juliet's sex still lingering against his fingers. The flicker of a memory flooded his mind almost making him hard again, but he pushed it to the back of his mind urging himself to actually wake up and get out of the bed that he had felt he had taken up residence at for far too long.
Inhaling the stale air of the cabin Jack moved around toward the sink letting the water run cold enough for him to splash some on his face in an attempt to wake up. His fingers gripped against the edge of the sink as he leaned over it staring at the drain for a moment. He was out of his element, half expecting to hear the sound of a swinging door at his right and the comforting tone of a scrub nurse asking him if he needed anything else before surgery.
He glanced toward the stairs, trying to force himself back to reality... away from the nightmares he knew he would have for months, maybe years to come. Jack needed to go back to the real world... because the fantasy was barely a memory now.