Lost Fic: "The New Sheriff" (Sawyer/Juliet)
Title: The New Sheriff
Characters: Sawyer ( Sawyer/Juliet)
Rating: PG
Words: 1,312
Disclaimer: Not Mine.
Summary: Sawyer prepares for his first day as the new head of security.
A/N: For gottalovev. I tried to keep the focus primarily on Sawyer and not descend too far into Sawyer/Juliet fluff because I wasn’t sure how you felt about them. I hope you like it!
Sawyer stands in front of his closet clad only in a white t-shirt and a pair of blue boxers. The new Dharma jumpsuit Horace brought over the night before is hanging innocently on the back of the door. Outside, the sun is just starting to rise, casting soft, gray shadows around the room he shares with a sleeping Juliet. He eyes the jumpsuit with the sort of intensity he would usually reserve for a standoff. This is his first official day as Head of Security and he’s scared as hell.
Slowly, he reaches out his hand and runs his fingers over the raised letters that read “Jim La Fleur-Head of Security.” He then moves his hand up to the official looking badge stitched above the pocket, tracing the outline of the star. He sighs a little louder than he intended to and Juliet stirs behind him. He keeps forgetting she’s a light sleeper.
“James, what are you doing?”
He turns around, looking sheepish, to see her sitting up in bed watching him fondle his suit. Despite still being half asleep, she looks amused. Sawyer quickly pulls his hand away.
“I was just getting ready for work. Told Horace I’d rally the troops early this morning, make sure the boys know there’s a new sheriff in town.” He tries to make his voice sound cocky and relaxed, but Juliet just arches one eyebrow. She can always read him. Something else he’s not entirely used to yet.
“Are you nervous?” She asked the question casually.
Sawyer turns back to his suit and shrugs.
“No.”
He catches a glimpse of her face in the mirror that stands in the corner. She’s looking at him skeptically, and he can’t help but feel defensive.
“I’m not nervous,” he said firmly. “It’s the same bunch of bozos I was working with yesterday, ain’t nothing I should be afraid of.”
“Nothing at all,” Juliet said innocently. He watches the corner of her mouth start to twitch. Between the jumpsuit leering at him and the pretty lady fighting back giggles, Sawyer couldn’t help but feel outnumbered. He saw no way out of this without giving in.
“Then why the hell do I feel like I’m going to puke,” he asked miserably.
The laughter Juliet had been trying valiantly to suppress came bubbling to the surface. Sawyer’s eyes narrowed.
“This ain’t funny.”
“I know it’s not,” Juliet assured him. She reached out a hand to him and he sighed taking it in his own. He allowed her to pull him onto the edge of the bed and then sat there looking at his feet, feeling like a little boy. Juliet gave his hand a squeeze.
“Hey, you going to tell me what you’re so afraid of?”
He keeps his eyes on his bare feet as he struggles to find the words to tell her why his stomach is in knots at the thought of walking over to that surveillance room this morning.
“I’ve never held an honest job for more than a couple of weeks at a time. I’ve sure as hell never stuck around long enough to be anybody’s boss. I always kept moving…another town, another con. Never stayed in one place long enough to actually start giving a damn about anybody but myself. I put that shiny, new jumpsuit on, become “Jim La Fleur Head of Damn Security”, that means people are going to start counting on me. What happens when I screw it all up?”
He feels the mattress shift as Juliet scoots closer to him. He doesn’t resist when she places a hand on his cheek and forces him to look at her.
“These people? They already count on you. You’re good at this, James,” she said.
Sawyer snorted. “I’m good at what, lying?”
“At leading, “she countered. “You got us here and you’ve kept us safe for over a year now. And whether you know it or not you’ve been head of security since the first day we came here. You’re the one who keeps the peace with Richard. You’re the one they call when something goes wrong in the middle of the night. You’re the one they are all take orders from because they know even when you’re yelling at them, that you’ve got their best interest at heart. They trust you. Putting that suit on? That’s just a formality.”
Sawyer stares at her for a moment.
“You really think I can do this?”
“I know you can do this,” she says without hesitation. “Now, let’s see how it looks.”
Sawyer nods and stands up. He crosses the room and faces the jumpsuit. He takes a deep breath to steady himself and quickly removes the suit from the hanger. He pulls it on roughly, grumbling under his breath the whole way. As he’s slipping his arms into the sleeves, he hears Juliet padding over to him. She turns him around to face her and takes over the job of buttoning up his front.
“That’s a nice suit you’ve got yourself, Mr. La Fleur.”
He examines himself in the mirror, tugging at his sleeves. Juliet squeezes his arm.
“Stop fidgeting. It looks fine.”
“Feels funny being on this side of a badge.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
Sawyer gave her half a smile. He stood there looking at their reflection. He was ashamed to admit that he still looked a little green around the gills, but the suit looked alright. There wasn’t a whole lot of difference between this one and his old one. He looked at Juliet beside him, her hair was a mess and all she was wearing was one of his t-shirts. She looked tired, but unmistakably proud. He sure as hell wasn’t use to that.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
She shrugged like it didn’t mean anything.
“Come on, I’ll walk you to the door.”
He rolled his eyes.
“This ain’t my damn first day of Kindergarten.”
A playful smile crossed her lips. “Then why do I feel like I should pack you a lunch?”
“You know, I heard the new sheriff is a hardass, you might want to watch your mouth. You don’t want to end up in the Dharmaville jail, do ya?” Sawyer teased her as they made their way down the hall.
“I’m not worried. Didn’t you hear? I’m sleeping with him.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s so.”
When they got to the door Sawyer leaned down to kiss her, pushing his fingers through her tangled hair. He pulled back and attempted to keep a straight face when he said, “You need to brush your teeth.”
Juliet glared at him and slapped him playfully on the arm before opening the door.
“Go to work,” she ordered.
“Yes, Ma’am,” he said as he walked out onto their porch.
He was halfway down the steps, when she called after him.
“James?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re going to do great.”
He winked at her, but when he turned back around he noted that his palms were still sweaty. He did feel a little better though. Enough that he could at least fake a swagger as he approached the house Miles and Jin shared. The two men were standing outside waiting for him as usual. Sawyer could see Miles smirking at him from across the yard.
“Morning, Bossman,” Miles greeted him.
Sawyer glared at him.
“Shut up, Enos.”
Miles snickered and Jin smiled apologetically.
“Come on boys, let’s get going. Now that I’m head of security I think Phil’s due for a stay over at the Hydra station. They need some extra bodies to help muck out the polar bear cages. You want to volunteer to help him out, Smiley?”
Miles stopped laughing.
“That’s what I thought.”
Sawyer grinned smugly. As they neared the door to the surveillance room, he found that there wasn’t anything fake about his swagger anymore. This he could get used to.