Wow, it is so nice to actually have this chapter-which has been sitting in the back of my mind for over a year now-written down and done.

I was skimming over some of my earlier chapters, and in one of my A/Ns I apologized for focusing so much on Suliet, saying that wasn't my intension at all. HA! If that wasn't my intension then, it certainly is now.

Well, with this chapter done, I believe there is only one chapter left. Maybe, possibly, I'll do one more after that. After a year and a half, it is so weird to have this story finally coming to an end.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter! And a huge thank you to Marla's Lost, Moon FireStar, eyeon and Giraffe13 for the reviews!

-Sarah

Clenching and Unclenching, Nerves Nerves Nerves

JULIET

The rental car is the same light blue as the dharma jeeps and the first two numbers on the license plate are four eight and I can't help but take that as a bad omen.

I had been prepared to comfort James the whole trip here, holding his hand and telling him it's okay, this plane won't crash, but in reality he was the one taking care of me.

"Jules?" he had asked as we began our ascent. "You alright?"

My eyes were closed and I was gripping on the arm rests so tight my knuckles were turning white. "Yeah," I breathed.

He plied my fingers from the arm rest intertwined them with his. "It's okay. This plane is going straight to Miami, no unexpected crashes involved."

I laughed. "I should be the one telling you that. I can't believe you are so comfortable with this."

He threw me a cocky grin. "Why shouldn't I be? Ain't never been in a plane crash before, darlin'."

I smiled and rolled my eyes. It was just like Desmond, refusing to let me say I'd been on the island for over three years.

"We're going to Miami, Jules. We're not even crossing any water."

"No, you're right. I know. It's just..." I let out a long breath. "I don't even know what I'm going to say to her."

He draped an arm over my shoulder. "You'll know when you see her."

I turned to him, ran a hand through his hair and leaned in close. "Thank you," I whispered. And by the time our lips pulled apart, we were already moving smoothly through the air.

Now in the rented Chevy that feels much too much like a dharma van, I tap my hand rapidly against the seat. "I still don't know what I'm going to say. How am I supposed to explain this all to her?"

"You won't have to. She just wants to see you. To know your okay."

"She'll want answers."

Then give them to her."

I look out the window. Nice, small houses with flowers underneath open windows and basket ball hoops on the garage and tricycles and badminton nets in the yard.

"What if she isn't home?"

"Then we'll come back tomorrow."

I don't even say that we should've called, but he knows I'm thinking it. "Stop driving yourself crazy, Blondie. This is the only way to do it. You want your first conversation with Rachel to be over the phone?"

"No."

"Well then stop worrying. What's the address?"

I look down at the map we printed offline. It was weird, being on the internet. It's been six years (or three). I almost didn't know how to use it.

"Eighteen. Turn at the next left."

I stare at the numbers passing by. 12...14...16... "Stop."

It's a yellow house with dark blue shudders. A green Volkswagen sits in the driveway. "This is it."

"You ready?"

"Yeah." But my hands are trembling.

"Hey." James takes my face in my hands. "It's going to be fine."

"I'd given up on ever seeing her again. This doesn't feel real."

"Well it is. So get out there and don't screw it up."

I laugh a shaky laugh and he gives me a light kiss. Then he's out of the car and opening up my door.

He offers his hand and I'm probably stopping circulation, but he doesn't complain. I think without it I would fall.

On the side of the house is a sandbox shaped as a turtle.

And a little boy is playing inside.

"Oh my God," I whisper.

He sees me and beams before climbing over the edge and wobbling over to us. I put a hand over my mouth and tears start rolling down my face.

He stops right in front of us and looks up, squinting in the sun. He has her eyes. He has her smile.

"Hi," he says.

I swallow. "Hello."

"Julian!" A voice calls from behind the house. Her voice. Now my knees are shaking and this isn't really happening. I'm not here, seconds away from seeing her again. This can't be real. It's cruel how real this feels, because it can't be. It can't.

James squeezes my hand.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stay where I can see...oh my God."

She stands frozen at the edge of the yard. She looks good. Healthy, with thick brown hair down to her shoulders. Exhausted, but healthy.

"Ju...Juliet?"

We stare at each other, afraid to move afraid that even our breathing will puncture the image and send it up in flames.

But I risk it. Letting go of James' hand, I begin to run.

"Juliet!"

Our bodies slam together and we almost topple over from the impact. I throw my arms around her.

"Oh my God Juliet." She's laughing and she's crying and she's real. She's real.

"Rachel," I whisper, the tears coming down fast. But I'm laughing too.

She pulls back, runs her hand along my face. "You're really here. I thought you were dead!"

"I'm so sorry." I wipe a tear off her cheek. "I-I tried to come back, but I couldn't-they wouldn't..."

"It's okay. It's okay."She touches my face, staring into my eyes, laughing. "Come inside." She takes my hand and we are almost to the door when she remembers. "Julian!"

She whips her head around to find him standing with James. I blush, because if she didn't remember Julian, I would have left him behind.

"Rachel," I begin, leading her back to him. "This is James." He holds a hand out. "Hi," she says, shaking his hand for a second before bending down to pick up Julian. "Julian, this is your aunt Juliet."

He smiles at me and then looks at his mom. "Is she the one from the pictures?" he whispers.

Rachel lets out a laugh, a tear escaping as well, and looks at me. "Yeah, honey. She's the one from the pictures."

We sit at the kitchen table with a platter of cheese and crackers between us. Julian is in the living room, enthralled in some nick jr. show I've never heard of.

James was right. Telling her about the island wasn't hard at all. I omit the time traveling and smoke monsters of course, but other than that, I can tell her just about everything. I almost mention the plane crash, assuming she's heard of it, when I remember it never really happened. So when it comes to James I just say, "He was brought to the island after me."

We catch up on what she's up to. A kindergarten teacher (I always knew she'd end up working with kids) and she's been seeing one of the parents. Tall, cute, divorced. She says it's been a couple of months now, and this one may be serious.

She asks how James and I ended up together and I turn to him, not even sure where to begin, but he jumps right into it.

"Well, it wasn't love at first sight, that's for sure. Even though Jules hated her people, she sure as hell acted like one of them in the beginning. A survival thing, you know?" He leans in toward her. "You'll never guess what she did to me when we first met."

"I don't think we need to go into that," I cut in.

"No, I have to hear this. What'd she do?"

He cups is hands over his mouth, leans in a little closer, and stage whispers, "she tasered me."

Rachel turns to me with her eyes bulged out and her mouth open wide. "Oh my god, Juliet!"

"Okay, but you have to understand that our people didn't exactly get along. I wasn't safe unless I played along."

"Yep. So they held us prisoner and she tasered me."

I glare at him. I don't want Rachel knowing this side of me.

"Jesus," she says. "I can't believe I didn't pick up on just how psychotic these people were when they came for you. I mean, I knew there was something off at that air port, but I would have never..." she shakes her head and then looked back at James. "So she captured and tasered you and you're dating her now? What happened? She help you escape?" she teases. "Something heroic and romantic like that?"

She's joking around and clenching and opening and reclenching her hand into a fist and that smile is plastered to her face and it is classic Rachel not being able to worrying about something. Classic Rachel hearing something she can't quite take in. I remember that hand clenching and unclenching when she barged into my lab all those years ago. The tears running down the curve of her lips as she kept the smile in place. "No more bad hair days, right? My mornings will so much quicker when I don't have any hair to fix."

Clenching and unclenching at my kitchen table one of the many mornings Edmund wasn't around for. "Of all of the many people I fantasized about trying to get me pregnant, my little sister was never one of them."

James is oblivious to it-anyone who doesn't know her would be-and he continues right on with their conversation. "Well, Juliet joined our camp after the escape. Things calmed down, time went by, and it just happened." He shrugs. Simple.

Rachel clearly does not agree.

"So are you guys staying here tonight?"

"I don't know," I say, glancing at James. "We haven't really thought about it." We had. We figured Rachel would let us crash here for a while to catch up. But judging from the clenching and unclenching of her firsts, I'm not so sure anymore.

"Stay here. There's a guest room upstairs."

I search her eyes. "Sure, of course. James," I turn to him and rest my hand on his. "Can you get the bags from the car?"

"Sure."

As soon as he's gone I turn back to Rachel. "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay? Jules, I'm just worried about you. These things you're telling me...these are seriously traumatizing things. I just can't even wrap my head around it. Juliet, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Rach. Everything's worked itself out."

"Juliet, you are telling me everything, aren't you?"

"Yeah," I lie.

"It's just...that guy your seeing? I don't want to sound neurotic or anything, but considering everything your telling me..." she lets out a breath, thinks through her thoughts. "He's who you say he is? He's not one of those bastards from the island? This isn't part of some plan or something?"

I'm almost shocked that the thought would even cross her mind. But I can see where its coming from. Held on an island for three years, and suddenly I found myself a way off with no chance of being taken back and a boyfriend who seems much to nonchalant about all the horrors Rachel is just hearing for the first time.

"No. Rach, you think I'd let any of them within a mile of you and Julian? He was the island for a completely different reason. We met and we helped each other escape and survive."

She searches my eyes for the lie. I wonder if she believes I'm still the Juliet whose face is as telling as a clean glass window. I wonder if she'll miss that girl when she learns I've replaced that window with a one sided mirror instead.

"Alright, fine. But even if he isn't one of those people, are you sure about him? I mean, I'm sure on that island of psychopaths he seemed like a knight in shining armor. But he's just so not you. He's not your type."

"My type?" I almost laugh. "My type before the island was ugly workaholics who slept with every woman in sight, Rachel."

"How much do you really know about this guy?"

Background wise? A whole files worth. Personality wise? Three years of it.

"Everything."

She gives me that look of hers. Her nuh-uh-no-way-bull-shit look.

"Listen, Rach, I know this is impossible to understand. I know how crazy it seems. Believe me, I know. But James is real. What I have with him is real. I love him. Just give him a chance, alright?" I reach across the table and grab her hand before she has a chance to close it back into a fist. She smiles. Maybe it's comforting to see that I remember her old habbits. Maybe she doesn't trust me anymore either.

"I'll give him a chance."

"Thank you." I squeeze her hand and stand to go help James with the bags.

"One chance," she calls after me. "But if he screws up he's out." She says it jokingly, but I know she's not kidding.

She's always keeping an eye on Julian, always takes a step closer to him when James enters the room. I can feel her scrutinizing us whenever we interact. When he grabs my hand at dinner, when he wraps an arm around me while we watch Cars (I forgot what it felt like to just sit back and watch TV), when he gives me laughs at the way I savoir each bite of a double stuffed Oreo (Dharma didn't make their cream filled cookies in double stuffed), when he calls me Blondie as we eat, and its making me nervous because I know any discomfort I show from her watching us like this will translate as James making me nervous and, dammit, I should have come alone. I should have had James stay in a hotel for this. I should have eased her into my new life on stead of overwhelming her with James.

I let out the breath I'd been holding all night as soon as Rachel is gone and the door to the guest room is closed.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" James asks as he pulls of his shirt.

I sit at the edge of the bed. "She doesn't trust you."

"Damn, and I wore me best shirt to impress her."

"I'm serious, James. She thinks you're an Other. She thinks I'm literally out of my mind to be dating you."

"Well what did you expect Jules? That she'd welcome me into the family with open arms?"

"No. I just..." I groan and put my head in my hands. He takes a seat beside me and pulls me into him.

"Listen, Rachel will never really understand what happened on the island. She'll never understand us. Think about it from her perspective. I'm some southern hick who's nothing like any of the men you've ever dated. And you're some scary blonde with straight hair instead of curly." I laugh and look up at him. He pushes a strand of hair behind my ear. "Listen Blondie, it ain't gonna be easy coming back into the real world after all this time, but we can do it. You believe that, don't you?"

"Of course." I lean over to kiss him. "I love you."

RACHEL

"I love you too," he says. And as they begin to kiss again, I creep away from the door, satisfied.

But I have Julian sleep in my room anyway.

Just in case.