Author's Note: I've had this idea for months. It took a long time to get it to come out in a way I was happy with. I hope you enjoy!

I'm having a little trouble with the next chapter of Dreamcatcher, but I am working on it! I'm hoping to get it up soon.

Also, feel free to send me any Suliet ideas you have! I may be able to turn them into something! =)

Disclaimer: Lost is not mine. If it was there would have been a whole season devoted to Suliet!

Please read and review!

Strike One

Sawyer glanced at Juliet from his position at a picnic table with Miles and Jin. She was standing a few yards away talking with Amy and a few other Dharma women. He watched as she smiled and laughed at something Amy said.

It had been several months since they landed in Dharma. The four of them: Sawyer, Miles, Jin, and Juliet were beginning to get comfortable in their new lives. Daniel left for Ann Arbor as soon as he could. The other three men fell into their new security roles easily, especially Sawyer. Juliet enjoyed working on jeeps and vans. She finally had island patients who didn't die every time she turned around and when one of the vehicles took a turn for the worse there was no family she had to console.

Tonight was one of Horace's nearly bi-weekly parties. The entirety of the DI was milling about the center of the compound. The alcohol flowed freely along with the burgers and hotdogs.

The sun was setting over the island. Lights along the sidewalks illuminated the partiers. Dharma Initiative members mingled throughout picnic tables and benches. There was a lull in the conversation between Sawyer, Jin, and Miles. The blond opened another beer and looked around for his roommate. Juliet and Amy had moved towards the gazebo.

"Ask her out already!" Miles exclaimed and Sawyer's head snapped around, his eyes narrowing on Miles.

"The hell you talkin' 'bout?!" There was an edge to Sawyer's voice.

"Juliet." Miles stated simply. "You know you want to."

Sawyer shook his head. "You're nuts."

"Come on. Ever since Amy dragged her away from this table you've been checking on her every ten minutes."

"Nah, I'm just surveyin'. Gotta keep this place secure. Part of the job." He brushed off Miles' observations, but his friends didn't buy it.

"Sure." Miles said. "And our doctor's over there with his hand on Carol's ass 'cause he's givin' her a checkup."

Sawyer took a drink of his beer. "Whatever." He said. "Juliet and I are friends. Roommates. That's it."

"For now." Miles looked to Jin who nodded. Sawyer shook his head and their conversation moved on.

Juliet let Amy drag her around the party. The sheer number of Dharma parties seemed a little excessive to Juliet and some of the DI members sure partied hard. She hadn't been old enough to witness this part of the 70s the first time around. She decided they lived up to the rumors.

Amy was friends with nearly everyone on the island. It was nice to have a female friend. She hadn't really had once since she left her sister in Miami. Of course she couldn't tell her everything and last month she had to invent a very interesting story of her experiences watching the moon landing, but Juliet enjoyed Amy's company nonetheless.

They stood near the gazebo with a couple other Dharma women. One of them, Anna, was telling Amy about a conversation she overheard in the cafeteria during breakfast. Meanwhile, the other, Kim, leaned over and whispered conspiratorially into Juliet's ear.

"Is Jim seeing anyone?" She asked. She looked at Juliet expectantly with a smile.

Juliet looked over at Sawyer. He was still sitting at a picnic table with Miles and Jin. She looked back to Kim. "Umm, no." She said and the other woman's smile widened. Something churned in Juliet's stomach. She suddenly wished she had lied and told her he was seeing someone.

"We're going to get another drink. You want anything?" Amy asked Juliet. She looked at her cup, still half full.

"No, thanks."

Amy smiled. "We'll be right back." She left with Anna.

"I'll be back, too." Kim smiled at Juliet and headed off in Sawyer's direction.

Juliet sighed. She hoped she wouldn't find Kim in her house later that night.

"Hey." A voice pulled Juliet from her thoughts. She looked up to see Phil walking towards her. He was smiling drunkenly. She couldn't say she liked anything about the man, but she figured Amy would be back to save her soon enough.

"Hi." Juliet replied with a polite smile.

Kim walked right over to Sawyer and took a seat on the bench next to him. "How's it going, Jim?" She asked sweetly.

Sawyer wasn't interested. He'd just seen Phil walk up to Juliet. "Uh...good." He said distractedly.

Kim continued talking, but Sawyer wasn't listening. His eyes were glued to Juliet and Phil. There was nothing he liked about the man and the way he was smiling at Juliet made him uneasy.

He watched as Phil took a step closer to Juliet and put a hand on her arm. Sawyer was about to jump out of his seat when Juliet took a step back, distancing herself from Phil. Sawyer smiled and relaxed a little. He had always been fairly certain Juliet would never go for Phil, but he was happy for the confirmation. However, what happened next tore the smile off Sawyer's face.

Phil tried again to take a step towards Juliet who put a hand up to stop him from getting too close. The smile he'd had disappeared and he looked angry. He said something loudly, but Sawyer couldn't make it out. He saw Juliet say something in return before Phil's arm reared back and came forward hitting Juliet in the jaw.

Sawyer was halfway there before Juliet even hit the ground. Phil's drunken punch didn't have much force, but she wasn't prepared. She stumbled backwards before landing in the grass, spilling her drink all over her favorite shirt in the process.

Miles and Jin were close behind Sawyer, having jumped up the second he took off. Sawyer got there as Juliet sat up. He decided she was alright and immediately turned his attention to Phil who was just standing there like nothing had happened. Sawyer tackled the smaller man to the ground. He got in two punches before Miles pulled him off.

"You son of a bitch! What the hell's wrong with you?!" He yelled as Miles held him back.

Horace ran to Phil whose face was bloodied. "What's going on?" His voice was surprisingly calm as usual in extreme situations.

"He hit her and I'm gonna fuckin' kill 'im" Sawyer yelled as he struggled against Miles' grip.

Horace's eyes went wide. He pulled Phil up and away from the gathering crowd while Miles tried to calm Sawyer.

Sawyer shook Miles' hands off him and turned to Juliet. She looked stunned sitting in the grass. Jin kneeled next to her. Sawyer took a breath. "You alright?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm ok."

He held out a hand and she took it. He pulled her to her feet and brought a hand to her face. He inspected the area where Phil's fist had made contact. "I'm ok." She said again.

Sawyer surprised everyone, himself included, when he wrapped his arms around Juliet in a hug. She returned his embrace. "You smell like beer." She said into his ear.

He chuckled. "Yeah, well, I didn't give Phil a chance to put his drink down."

Juliet pulled away and looked down. Her light blue shirt was soaked with her own drink. She frowned. "This was my favorite shirt."

"That's what you're worried about?" Sawyer asked with incredulity.

The rest of the Dharma Initiative surrounded Sawyer and Juliet. There were flurries of "are you ok?" and "what happened?".

"I'm fine." Juliet said over and over.

"Let's get outta here" Sawyer said.

She nodded and they headed in the direction of their house. Sawyer walked with a protective arm around Juliet's shoulders. She leaned into him, still reeling from what had just happened.

He led her into the little yellow house they shared and stopped. She looked at him confused. His hand went to her face. He brushed her hair behind her ear and inspected her jaw more closely. Juliet was surprised by his gentleness. She saw the concern on his face as his rough fingers skimmed across her soft skin. "That hurt?" He asked.

Her breath caught in her throat. When did he get so close? She could feel his breath on her skin. He raised an eyebrow. He noticed her breath hitch. "Just a little." She lied.

"I'll get you something for it." His hand dropped from her cheek and she immediately missed the warmth. He left her standing in the living room to fetch water and painkillers.

Maybe Phil hit me harder than I thought. Juliet thought. She could have sworn Sawyer's eyes lingered on her lips instead of the possible bruise currently forming along her jaw. Her head was reeling. Apparently Phil did not take rejection well. Not drunk Phil anyway. Juliet dropped onto the couch and put her head in her hands. So much for staying under the radar and keeping a low profile.

"Hey." Sawyer was back. He placed glass of water on the coffee table and gave her two pills when she looked up at him. "You sure you're ok?" He asked and took a seat next to her. She nodded and took the pills. "What happened?" He had watched the exchange, but couldn't hear the conversation.

"He was drunk." Juliet started although that much Sawyer already knew. She sighed and leaned back against the couch. "He hit on me at the last party." She glanced at Sawyer. She had neglected to inform him of it at the time. He was silent, but his jaw was set in a hard line. Juliet continued. "Tonight he said something about being my Romeo." She rolled her eyes. "I finally told him it wasn't ever going to happen. Then he lost it."

"I'm gonna kill 'im" Sawyer muttered.

"James" Juliet sat up and chided softly.

"What?" He growled. His eyes narrowed as he looked at her.

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Sawyer glared at it and Juliet sighed. She got up and opened it. Horace stood on the other side. The Dharma leader seemed flustered which Juliet hadn't thought possible. "I'm so sorry." He told her.

"It's ok." She replied.

Sawyer got up. "No, it ain't." He was still pissed and wanted to beat Phil's face in and he couldn't understand why Juliet seemed to be ok with what had happened. He looked to Horace. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"I've got Phil in one of the cells in the security station right now. Just until he sobers up. We've never had this kind of thing happen before, but I will not tolerate it." He said firmly. "I'll need to discuss repercussions with others in charge of the Initiative."

"Let me into that cell with him, H. I'll give 'im a punishment." Sawyer was livid. He was fairly certain the hippies' repercussions would not be up to his standards.

"James, stop it." Juliet's voice was raised and both men stared. She sighed. "Just leave it, ok?" She said to Sawyer and then turned to Horace, her face an icy emotionless slate. "Thanks for stopping by. I'm sure the DI will handle it appropriately." She turned and headed down the hallway towards her bedroom.

Horace looked questioningly at Sawyer who watched Juliet as she walked away. The blond turned back to Horace. He was confused and angry. "Just let me know how everything goes." He said running a hand through his hair. "And tell Phil he's lucky he's stuck in that cage right now." Sawyer closed the door while Horace was still on the porch.

He stalked down the hall and into Juliet's bedroom through the open door. She had just pulled pajamas out of a dresser drawer. "What's wrong with you?" It came out harsher than he intended, but he didn't care.

She sighed. "It's just not a big deal." She said and then turned away to pull down the covers on the bed.

Sawyer was frustrated. "Not a big deal?" He nearly yelled. "A man punched you because you told him you wouldn't go out with him! That's not right Jules! That's not ok!"

She turned towards him. "He was drunk. He wouldn't have done it otherwise."

"You don't know that!" Sawyer studied her. She seemed indifferent to the entire thing and more concerned about getting ready for bed. He lowered his voice. "What he did wasn't right. Drunk or not. Don't you care?"

Her eyes met his. "I care." Her voice was icy.

"Well, you got a funny way of showin' it." He turned to leave. When he got to the threshold her voice stopped him.

"It's not the first time." She said. "I guess I got used to it." He turned and found her still standing by the bed, arms crossed over her chest.

Sawyer's eyes widened. "What do you mean it's not the first time?"

She sighed. "I was married." Sawyer's eyes widened. She'd never mentioned a husband before. "He dislocated my shoulder once. Tonight was nothing."

Sawyer moved towards her. She avoided his gaze. "I'm sorry." He said softly.

"It was a long time ago." Juliet finally met his eyes. "It doesn't matter anymore."

Her face was set. Stony. Emotionless. But Sawyer could the pain in her eyes. He put a hand on her upper arm and pulled her towards him. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "It does matter." He pulled away just enough to see her face. "It matters to me and Phil's gonna get what's comin' to him. So will that husband if I ever get off this damn island."

Juliet laughed. "Thank you, but he's already dead." She finally uncrossed her arms and hugged him back. "Why do you care?" She whispered. "You don't even really like me that much. I know we're just stuck here together."

He pulled away again. She met his eyes with a seriousness he wasn't expecting. Sawyer raised his hand and brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. "That's where yer wrong." She looked at him, confused. His eyes left hers and she knew for certain this time he was looking at her lips. Maybe she hadn't imagined it earlier. The next thing she knew it wasn't his eyes on her mouth, but his own lips against hers.

Sawyer pulled Juliet against him, one hand on the small of her back while the other held the back of her head. Her hand snaked around his neck and through his hair. After what felt like hours they pulled apart breathless. Juliet rested her head against his chest. "We are stuck here." He said into her hair. "But there's no one I'd rather be stuck with."

Juliet looked up at him. "I like you a lot, Jules." He told her.

She smiled. "I like you a lot too, James."

She brought her lips to his in another kiss.