A/N: Hey everyone! So, this is going to be a multi-chapter fic from dharma times. It might be three chapters, it might be ten. It depends if I get any more ideas to add onto the one I already have.

So I took a little break from the wonderful world of fanfiction to work on some original writing of mine, and I'm having some trouble getting back into this. My lost obsession is slowly dying down, so I had a lot of trouble getting everyone's character right. i don't think this chapter turned out to well, but whatever. hopefully the next chapter will be easier. Please review and tell me what you think!

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy!

:)

-Sarah

Here's the thing about living a lie: sometimes it is exhilarating. The past is empty and open and waiting for you to redesign it. And that's exiting.

But other times, it just feels like your life is...well, a lie. It became tiresome to keep up the pretenses. To not mention a book or song that hasn't come out yet. To have to join in conversations about the 'current' politics and answer questions about what his life was like before. That's why it was so great to come home and be able to be honest with someone. This place was like a sanctuary. He and Juliet could just let everything go.

"I'm surprised," Juliet said from the sofa, reading her book, when he complained about all the lies. "I'd think this would be a breeze for our beloved conman. You lied for a living."

"Hey," Sawyer said, taking her book away and plopping down in a chair. "Don't make it sound like I'm the bad guy here. You're not too innocent either. I think all of your stunts as a double agent or triple agent or whatever the hell you were up to in the past couple of months adds up to my conning."

"Not a chance," she said, reaching for her book. He pulled it back. "Me trying to get away from my psychotic, obsessed leader while staying alive does not compare to your lifetime of conning woman for their money." She stood up and walked around him to reach her book, but he only held it over to the opposite side.

If the island were to go crazy again sent them forward in time to when the Doc first brought Juliet to their cozy little side of the island and he were to tell future/past him that one day he and Juliet would be sitting in their living room in 1974, fighting and joking over a book and whose life consisted of the most lying, he wouldn't have believed it. He would accept the time travel; he would accept the being stuck in the 70's, but not the being buddy-buddies with Juliet. No way in hell would he ever befriend that Other who almost killed Kate.

It sometimes still surprised him.

It really started to come together on the second night. He had told her they should come up with a complete past, just so there were no mistakes and misunderstandings. She wasn't too enthusiastic. "I'd like to keep my past the way it is, thanks," she had said.

"That's gonna be a little hard, sweetheart. From here on out, we were born in the forties. We need to act accordingly." She still didn't look convinced. "Oh come on, it'll be fun. We get to recreate everything that ever happened to us. What's not to like? It'll be fun."

It was unbelievably awkward.

But eventually she got into it. They got out a bottle of wine and joked around about all the things they could have done. In one scenario (curtsey of Juliet) he and Miles were secret lovers and this whole search for the black rock was only an excuse for them to get away and be together. And then there was the one of them having a secret, scandalous romance on the boat that Jin (quite accidentally) found out about, but that didn't concern either of them because who would he be able to tell? They laughed more than either of them had in a very, very long time, and he actually learned a lot about her real past. Like how she had a sister and a nephew that she never met. How she was the only reason he was ever born. How she was a doctor that was scammed into coming here, and she never intended on staying here and becoming the person he knew her as back in 2005. Everything he had thought he knew about her, every first impression that he had was proven wrong. And by the time they finally crawled into their beds at four in the morning without having come up with one usable past, he could barely remember what he found so hard to like about her before.

The sound of a jeep coming to a stop in front of their house distracted Sawyer and Juliet stole her book back.

"Ha!" She said triumphantly.

"Alright, you win," he said absentmindedly, focusing out the window. Horace got out of the jeep and headed up their walkway. "Shit," Sawyer said, beginning to stand. "Tell him I'm not here."

"James!" Juliet laughed. "He's your boss."

"Yeah I know, and he's makin' that pretty clear. He hasn't left me alone for one second. I've only been on the team for two weeks and he's working me to death. I swear he's trying to get rid of me. Wishes we hadn't stayed and now he's tryin' to kill me off."

"You are such a drama queen."

The doorbell rang and Sawyer snuck into the kitchen. Not here! He mouthed before disappearing.

Juliet rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Hey Horace" she smiled.

"Juliet" he greeted. "Do you have a second?"

"Sure, come on in."

"Oh no, its fine. This really will only take a second. I was just wondering how the living arrangements are?"

She had been living here with James for four months now. The first night, she thought it would be her temporary stay for her two weeks of torture. But then on the second night she and James had stayed up til morning talking about their pasts-real and fake ones-and on the twelfth night she decided there was no point in leaving the island. Horace said they could keep this house, if they were okay with it. Neither had a problem.

"It's great," she answered.

"Jim isn't too much trouble?" Horace joked.

"James is fine," she laughed. No doubt James would use this as proof that Horace was 'trying of get rid of him.

"That's great. Well listen, I'm sure you know about the scientists moving to Ann Harbor next week?"

"Yeah, Dan mentioned it."

"Right, well I just checked the list for the upcoming submarine, and it looks like we are losing more people than we are gaining, so some houses are emptying up. I already talked to Miles and he was pretty eager to get his own place. So I was thinking maybe you wanted...but if things are going well here...it's up to you," he said.

"Um..." She wasn't quite sure what she wanted. She was happy here, and James seemed happy to, but they had no choice but to live together. Would he rather of a house to himself? Would she be happier alone?

"There's no rush. Why don't you talk it over with Jim and get back to me?" Horace suggested, seeing her struggle.

"Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks."

"Speaking of, is he here? I was hoping to go over some security things with him."

"You know, he just stepped into the shower. And James and his hair...who knows how long he'll be? I'll tell him you stopped by."

"Alright, thanks."

"No problem. And I'll see about the house too."

"Great. I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Yep," she smiled. "Bye Horace." She closed the door behind him.

"Mind enlightenin' me one how the hair comment was necessary, Blondie?" James question, appearing from the kitchen.

"Would you rather I tell him that you were hiding in the kitchen?"

"No. But now you've got two more lies to add to your list. That I was in the shower and that I'm obsessed with my hair," he said, flipping his it for affect. She suddenly imagined her hands in that hair. She shook the thought away quickly.

"Whatever you say, Jesse."

"Good one," he admitted sourly. The other day when he caught her mumble a 'sonuvabitch' when she burned herself cooking. He was rubbing off on her. "Just be careful not to use it in public. Full House don't come out til '85."

"I'll keep that in mind. So I'm assuming you heard about the separate houses offer?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, walking to the couch. "I'm fine with you here."

"You are?" she asked, a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know." She sat down next to him. "You just always struck me as the type of guy who would rather be on his own."

"Yeah, I guess I always was that guy. But I'm used to this. And we have a nice system going on. If you moved out, I'd have to cook and clean every night."

She smiled slightly, but she didn't really feel like joking right now. He seemed to catch on. "It's nice having the company. It was a bit of a challenge to admit it, but he forced the words out. "I want you to stay."

She stared at him.

"If you want to, I mean..." damn, now she had him all self conscious. It wasn't a feeling he was used to. He didn't like it.

"No, I do. Definitely."

"Good," he said, but there was still tension in the room. "So...its settled?"

"Yeah. I want to stay, you want to stay. I guess we're both staying."

"And neither of us are adding lies to our lists, right Pinocchio?"

"No," she laughed. "I promise I want to stay. It's like..." she searched for the words to describe what she was thinking. "This is kind of the only place I'm comfortable. I have to go through the day as a mechanic that grew up in the 60's. And then I come home and drop the act and we can have real conversations without it in our way. I think if I wasn't able to come home every night and talk to you just as us, I might actually start to believe we grew up here."

"Exactly," he said. This is exactly what he was thinking. "Those were my thoughts exactly. See, we're meant to be, darlin'." He said casually. "We just get each other. You might just be the first woman I've ever been able to just be myself with. No lies, no sexual tension. It's great. It's fuckin' great."

"It is," She smiled, beginning to stand. "Well I'm gonna go start dinner. Amy gave me the newest edition of The Dharma Cookbook." She grinned. They've had some bad experiences with those books. "She told me we had to try the chicken. So hopefully that'll be 'fuckin' great' too."

She got bathroom first on Mondays. This was another system that just worked with them. So she was already in bed and reading, same as always. But the conversation from before was replaying itself in the back of her mind.

"Hey Juliet!" James called, sticking his head in her room. "I dropped my toothbrush in the toilet."

"That's disgusting."

"Can I use yours?"

"No!"

"Alright thanks," he said, heading back to the bathroom.

"James!"

"Don't worry, Barbie. I won't use it. And if I do I just won't tell you."

Ew. "You're making me regret my decision already."

He sauntered back into her room, a green toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. "There," he said, the toothbrush and toothpaste distorting his words. "I found an extra one. Happy?"

"Very."

He gave her one of his classic, dimpled smiles. Only this time he had toothpaste all over his mouth. "Goodnight."

"Night," she laughed. She watched him leave, taking a special interest in his boxers. She went back to reading but then the image of his face had her laughing again. His words from this afternoon were still idly spinning around in her head.

We're meant to be, darlin'. We just get each other.

She felt a flutter in her heart and then a knot in her stomach. Like all of these sudden and overwhelming feelings of excitement and giddiness and a weird sense of fear were tying themselves around each other.

Her laughter broke off suddenly.

Shit.

No lies, no sexual tension. It's great.

Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit.

She recognized this feeling.

She was falling for him.