baby baby baby

[notcooldude]

See, the first time he'd needed new clothes on the new island (the one that wasn't his) Sawyer'd gone for him. For his own good, or at least that's what he'd said. Given how messy his first couple hours had been, he'd basically needed new clothes immediately, so when he was told to stay where he was and don't get in any more trouble, he did what he

Comments

[blondieburke]

Juliet's got no love for the clothes box, given that all of the clothes she has consist of tank tops. No t-shirts, no quarter length sleeves. Just tank tops in all different colors and cuts, which she's mostly gotten used to. But every once in a while she'd like to have something other than that to wear for clinic shifts.

Everyone keeps telling her to think positive thoughts when it comes to the box, so it's with that motto that she approaches. What she isn't expecting is a Hurley shaped person standing there, and when she realizes it is Hurley she grins, but quickly tones it done because she has no idea when he's from or if he'll think she still has James and Kate in a cage.

"From what I've heard he's the newer, much younger version of Justin Timberlake," she says coolly, standing just behind Hurley.

[notcooldude]

Hurley certainly isn't expecting to hear that voice approaching, or to turn around and see Juliet's familiar face, with that smile that he thinks is so ... beautiful, but sad. That reminds him a little of her, but in a good way. A way that makes Hurley clamber off of the ground as quickly as he's capable, ignoring the box and his hunt in favor of moving to wrap the older woman in the largest hug he's capable of.

"Oh my gosh, Juliet! Hey, you!"

[blondieburke]

There's something to be said for a hug from Hurley, so it must be post cages. Good. Hugging him back, she realizes that for the first time since she's run into someone from the other island, she feels like one of them actually wants to see her.

"When did you get here, Hurley?" she asks once she lets go of him, unable to suppress her wider smile now.

[notcooldude]

It's a good hug. He's glad to have had the chance to give it - even if part of that, it's rough to admit to himself, is because it gives him the chance to hide the couple seconds of pain on his face against her shoulder. Before he can do something stupid, like start to cry. He's pretty sure none of them can understand.

And he can't tell them. Something bad might happen.

"Like a week ago," he says, as he moves away again, hands still heavy on her shoulders. "Buuuut I was sort of under newbie house arrest while I got the 411 and everything. I feel like a quarantined puppy. That needs clean shirts."

[blondieburke]

"Mhmmm, well, at least you had someone to give you all of that information. Have you stopped waiting to wake up yet?" It had taken her a while, and even now, eight months later, there are days she wonders how the hell this place can be real. Like when the island grew candy.

"The only advice I have on that clothing box is second hand. Think positive thoughts. But I have fifty tank tops that say the advice is worthless," she smirks. "So far it looks like you're having my luck, Hurley."

[notcooldude]

"Yeah, so uh, I sort of stopped that a while ago. Waiting to wake up. I'll be honest." He ducks his head a little, voice avoidant. He never was good at pretending, and he still isn't now. Pretending he's not a little different from everyone else; now he's just different for different reasons. He can hear Sawyer's adamant words in his head.

Don't tell me.

"I'm sorta used to it." He finally moves away, and nods toward the box. "Bad luck. How long've you been stuck here? You look okay. I mean, good, you look pretty good."

[blondieburke]

Other Training 101 taught her a lot. Body language, how to lie, but most importantly, how to read those things in other people. She watches him, the way he can't quite look at her. She listens and gets stuck on his words before his amendment.

She doesn't say anything, not yet. He hasn't been here long, and he could still just be in shock over seeing her here. She just files it all away, right there along with the evasive looks from James and everything else she can't really piece together.

"I've been here about eight months. Eight very long months," Juliet answers with another small smile. "Who was your welcoming committee?"

[notcooldude]

"Wow," he says, "Crap." Because he's okay with being here, on this island, only up to a point. The point at which he worries if he's not still supposed to be back on the other island, doing the job that only he can do. The one he agreed to. The necessary one.

But he's here. Some of the others are here. He can't sweat it.

And what's he gonna do, anyway?

Cry?

Screw that, man. So he smiles across at Juliet, honest, for the most part. "Sawyer sort of showed up like less than thirty minutes after I got here and saved me from drowning to death in a river made of caramel sauce. So yeah, that was interesting." It's a matter-of-fact description, and why not. It doesn't involve polar bears or black smoke monsters that turn into Locke or immortality springs. That Hugo has drunk from.

[blondieburke]

Juliet covers her mouth with her fingers in a sort of smirk.

"You have to watch out for those rivers, Hurley. I had a garden that grew lollipops for a couple of days, I didn't even know about the caramel river."

She tilts her head to the side just a little. "Not excited to hear I've been stuck almost a year here, huh?"

[notcooldude]

"I'm mostly happy it didn't, like, shrink me or something. You know, like the mushrooms in Alice in Wonderland. But I guess it was a different story." It doesn't seem to shock him - or even totally seem implausible to him, in retrospect. Juliet gets a long, long, quiet look after that, though, as if he's trying to figure out what she's thinking. Figure out what he's supposed to do with all of the secrets in his head, and all of these people.

He never was good at keeping track of who knew what, and whether or not they were supposed to.

"Not really," he admits, slinking just a little closer, in a way so subconscious even he doesn't realize he's doing it. "I've got stuff I'm supposed to be doing. On the island. I mean, The Island."

[blondieburke]

Stuff he's supposed to be doing. What kind of stuff would Hurley have to be doing? Especially because last she remembers, he was off the island. Juliet's voice lowers and is even, soothing.

"What are you doing back on the island, Hurley?"

[notcooldude]

He can't help it. Just seeing her face, hearing her voice, knowing she was dead, part of the whispers. Knowing what the whispers were. Knowing what Jacob was. Everything, knowing everything. He can't help it, wanting the sort of comfort he feels Juliet is offering, with that voice. Forgiving and soothing and even-tempered.

Hurley hesitates before leaning his head against her shoulder. He wants to say as little as possible. But she knows. She knows he's gone back to the island, and that he's there, in the future.

"Jack said we had to go back. So we got on a plane. And we went back. Because the island needed ... stuff done." Stuff he's supposed to be doing, he leaves it to follow.

[blondieburke]

One of Juliet's hands rests on his back, the other against the back of his head. His file had said that he was good at heart, fun, genuine and caring. Even without the file, she'd known from the early reports Ethan gave on everyone that Hurley was different. That he'd made sure Claire had extra food, extra blankets.

He'd been the first one out of the survivors other than Jack to talk to her without looking like he'd rather string her up. Even if they'd sent him over, he'd still been one person in a group of over forty who'd talked to her.

She rubs Hurley's back gently, still speaking softly. "So you went back to the island. After how long, Hurley? What did Jack say needed to be done that meant you had to go back?"

[notcooldude]

He lets himself take that comfort she's offering, because he knows - it's the most he's ever gonna get, from anyone. And he can feel, it's honest, it's not just some platitude of familiarity making her let him cling all over her. Maybe it's pathetic, but he doesn't care.

"Years," he admits, rolling his head one last time against her shoulder before moving away. He looks around the room for a chair -- finds a few of them nearby. And parts off to move and sit heavily down in it before he either gets jelly legs or starts blubbering or something else totally stupid. "Jack just said, we have to go back. The island's not finished with us. He said all of us had to go back, so we did."

He can't quite meet her eyes again, though. Because he knows. He knows it was Ben that convinced him to go, in the end; Ben who ruined Hugo's resolve. Ben who stayed with Hugo at the end of everything. Juliet and Ben ... he doesn't know much about them, not really. He wasn't really as much a part of all that. But he knows it's complicated

[blondieburke]

She sits beside him, listening intently to him. Every question that she has she stifles for now, and there's quiet for a few minutes before she finally speaks again.

"Hurley, those years you're talking about? Whatever happened in them, I can't remember all of it. Just bits and pieces. The last thing I remember about you, is that you got on Frank's helicopter."

This can't be about her, she won't try to twist his feelings into something that means he'll tell her. She'd like to know she has at least one good friend from home (home?) in this place.

"If you want to tell me you can, but if you think it could be bad, maybe that's a secret you'll keep for a while. Until you're ready."

[notcooldude]

She gets a long, thoughtful stare after the revelation of just what she doesn't know. It really is enough to drive him nuts, trying to piece together all of these separate pieces that are the people he knows, here, on this island. But he can handle it. For once in his life, he thinks he can handle it. That's why it's his job. That's why he's doing Jacob's work, now.

Or should be, anyway.

He folds his hands in his lap and shrugs. "It's okay, it's okay. It is so okay. I mean, I'm totally over it now, sorry. It's just ... I guess I wasn't really ready to see all these faces, like, all at once. Bam, bam, in a row. It's nice, though. It really is nice. Seriously."