lost fic: miles from where we came (jack/juliet)
Title: miles from where we came
Character(s)/Pairing(s): jack/juliet
Word Count/Rating: 2,808, pg-13
Summary: five times a child changed their lives. set in the alternate timeline. spoilers for 6x05.
A/N: For missy_useless's winning bid at help_haiti. She asked for Jack/Juliet, and this ridiculously fluffy piece is what I came up with. Also for the sacred_20 prompt heaven and challenge #100 over at lostfichallenge, alternate universe
i. alex loizzo
They meet during Jack's first year of residency, when Juliet brings in a little boy named Alex to see Dr. Christian Shepherd.
Alex was born to a mother just six months out of chemotherapy. The boy's mother was part of a case study Juliet had worked on in med school. This case study was also where Juliet's sister Rachel had conceived her own son. Needless to say, she had taken a special interest in all the children who had been born during those three years.
Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that Alex has a tumor attached to his spinal column. Juliet knows, scientifically, it has nothing to do with his mother's cancer. There's still a part of her that wonders if this was punishment for a group of researchers attempting to play god.
So Juliet waits with the family, one hour in the waiting room and another hour in an exam room so they can see the illusive Dr. Christian Shepherd. The waiting isn’t even the worst part, though. It’s Dr. Shepherd's nurse. Nurses tend to like her, but something about her must rub this one the wrong way because every time Juliet tries to ask her a question, she shoots out of the room like a bat out of hell.
Finally she attempts to chase after her, making it as far as the door when a doctor roughly her own age blocks her exit. He picks up the chart on the back of the door, and then smiles right over Juliet's head at the boy swinging his feet off the ledge of the exam table.
"Alex?" he asks, and when the little boy smiles at him, he adds. "I'm Jack.” He turns to the woman sitting beside the boy, “And you must be Mrs. Loizzo." Alex's mother smiles as well. Jack's mood is infectious enough that they forget all about the exceedingly long wait.
Juliet is not so lucky. "I thought we'd be meeting with Dr. Shepherd."
Jack smiles down at Juliet, who is still invading his personal space. He takes it in stride. "You are." He points to his nametag. Jack Shepherd, M.D.
"Dr. Christian Shepherd," Juliet clarifies.
"He's running late," Jack says. Juliet can tell when someone is hiding something, and the way Jack's eyebrows crease, even if it is for a split second, worry her. "Dr. Shepherd wants me to handle the pre-ops."
"So you've already decided surgery is an option?"
"Jules," Mrs. Loizzo interjects, but Jack takes the bait anyways.
"His x-rays have us optimistic. The tumor hasn't grown in the past few weeks. We definitely think it's worth the risk." Jack's hand lingers above her shoulder for a moment before making contact. "Why don't you sit down, Dr. Carlson, and we can discuss this some more?"
Juliet's eyes narrows, but she does take her seat. "I never gave you my name."
Jack shrugs. "I did my homework."
-
Alex is admitted into the hospital a week before his surgery is scheduled. Around the same time, Jack, who plays middleman for his father, tells Juliet that she's being allowed in on the case officially. Juliet is sure it is all Jack's doing.
Their third day of treating Alex Jack arrives with a piping hot cup of Earl Grey Tea and drops it ceremoniously in Juliet's hands. The label is stretched between her thumbs. The best Earl Grey you can get in the city comes from a little mom and pop shop hidden in the midst of dry cleaners and antique shops on 1st Ave. Not many people have heard of it.
Juliet sips from the cup tentatively. "You haven't been stalking me, have you?" she asks.
Jack shakes his head, amused. "No."
Juliet smiles, his grin really is infectious. "How'd you know?"
Jack seems almost too pleased at the question. "Homework." He taps his pen twice on the ledge as if to emphasize his point.
Juliet turns back to her chart, hoping if she ignores his efforts they won't bug her so much. It's not that she doesn't like being flirted with, and she certainly doesn't mind free tea, especially when her cup of choice tends to be ridiculously expensive. In fact, she doesn't know what it is about Jack Shepherd that has her so uneasy.
She takes another sip of her tea. Extra orange - exactly how she takes it.
When she looks back up to ask him how he could have possibly known that, he's already gone.
ii. julian carlson
Jack isn't a strategist when it comes to dating, but by the time he convinces Juliet to take a chance on him, he has dated enough women to know that their relationship will thrive or die based on his ability to impress the men in her life.
For Juliet, there is just one man who counts.
Julian Carlson is five years old, and the minute he meets Jack his eyes narrow in distrust. Not even Jack's most convincing smile will make the kid budge. He is the pint-sized version of Juliet.
"He doesn't like me," Jack says, when Julian finally gets tired of glaring at him and runs off to play with the new toy truck Juliet bought him. As a rule, Jack usually isn't good with kids, unless they're patients and that's because he only sees them in short intervals.
"He doesn't know you," Juliet argues.
Julian returns a moment later, tugging on Juliet's sleeve, furiously. "Aunt Juliet, can I talk to your boyfriend in private."
Juliet tries really hard not to giggle at the obvious terror working its way onto Jack's face. "Sure."
She manages a wink, before sliding out of the room to find Rachel and leaves Jack and Julian to themselves.
Julian doesn't waste anytime once Juliet's gone. "Are you going to marry Aunt Juliet?"
Jack stares down at him blankly, caught off guard and hoping he heard wrong. "Excuse me?"
Julian rolls his eyes. "Isn't that what happens next?"
Jack decides aversion is his best option. He knows it worked like a charm on him as a kid. “Would you be okay with me marrying her?"
Julian shrugs. "I guess."
"Good." Jack nods and then Julian stares at him pensively. The ten seconds that follow are some of the most awkward moments of Jack's life, and when Julian finally smiles and runs out of the room, Jack lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Jack leans back against the table and buries his head in his hands.
When Jack finally looks up, he finds Juliet standing there.
"What's the verdict?" Jack asks.
"He's calling you Uncle Jack now." Juliet leans against the table, close enough to him so that their shoulders and hips brush. "Do I want to know what you two were talking about?"
Jack tilts his head mischievously. "I think I asked for his permission to marry you."
iii. david shepherd
Once they find out they're having a boy, they cannot seem to agree on a name for him. At first, it's just a difference in taste. They're both traditionalists, but Jack wants the name to be significant, to have some sort of meaning or story behind it. Juliet thinks the name needs to evoke an emotion, conjure an image.
Their families think they're over thinking the whole thing.
By Juliet's 32nd week, they're still at a deadlock.
"What about Benjamin?" Jack asks.
It's a lazy Saturday, one of the few weekends where neither of them have surgeries scheduled or post-ops and pre-ops to attend to. They spend it curled up on the sofa. Juliet's head rests on Jack's shoulder, her fingers tracing the letters of the offered up name.
Jack's hand ghosts over her lower back and she barely muffles her shiver.
"No." Juliet says, definitively. She runs through all the suggestions in the parenting books she’s picked up. "What's your favorite Shakespeare play?"
Jack cracks a grin. He read that tip too. "Romeo and Juliet," he says, and it's only because he's only ever read one Shakespeare work. "So unless you want him to grow up with an oedipal complex..."
Juliet laughs against his chest, muttering something about Hamlet that goes right over his head.
Jack nudges her with his chin. "What's yours?"
It takes her a while to realize what he's referring to but then she smiles, "Richard III"
Jack's eyebrows rise. "Richard, huh?"
Juliet wrinkles her nose, "It sounds old."
And Jack sighs again. "Maybe we should just name him something that starts with a J."
"Like John or Jacob or"
"-James" Jack finishes. They've had this conversation many times before, and it always ends the same. They narrow it down to three J names and then decide that the idea of a family with matching monograms is a little too sickly sweet for their stomachs.
Juliet shifts in his arms, so that her stomach fits firmly against Jack's side. It triggers something in him.
"We should name him David," Jack says, the word coming to him out of nowhere. The name is one of the few that they have never mentioned or even remember coming across as they skimmed through naming books.
Juliet's forehead crinkles. "Should I ask why?"
The problem is Jack doesn't actually have a why, but he is very good at improvising. "I'm a Van Halen fan, and you wrote your thesis on David Bowie."
Juliet tries to keep a straight face. "It's like a sign from above, Jack."
Jack laughs. It is a terrible reason for a name. "So no to David, then?"
Juliet lets the name roll around in her head, before testing it on her tongue, there's something about it, something that sets it apart from all the rest they've been trying out. "I actually like it. It sounds fresh."
Jack frowns. "He's not produce."
"I'm serious." Juliet pokes him in the side just above his appendectomy scar to prove it.
"I don't know if I can name him that now. Every time I look at him I'll be thinking about grocery shopping."
"Maybe that's a good thing. I'd save money on post-its."
Jack smiles. He finds the tiny squares in his briefcase throughout the week, reminding him to pick up milk or paper towel or as of Juliet's third trimester, bags of large marshmallows and mayonnaise. One or the other will wind up spread over her dinner.
Jack picks up the pad of paper that has stayed empty for months. "I'll put it on the list."
It wins by default. And it isn't until years later that Jack finds out that Juliet's thesis was on the genetic links to maternal mortality in the second trimester and that all the David Bowie she played was really just background music.
iv. leah shepherd
Naming a girl proves to be much easier than naming a boy. They have a name - Leah - by the time Juliet is eight weeks along. The nursery is painted by ten weeks, and all they can do is wait anxiously after twelve weeks as David goes around telling anyone who will listen all about his new sister.
When the doctor tells them the news, Juliet feels as though someone took a sledgehammer to her stomach. In one foul swoop everything they have seems to be torn to pieces. When they get home, Juliet collapses on the bed, stays wrapped in Jack's arms as he cries the tears she can't. She suffers in silence, but hopes that it will be okay because they are in this together.
That hope ends when David comes home from school with another picture he drew for his little sister, and something in Jack shatters, his anguish written all over his face.
He leaves the room, goes back to work, and stays there the rest of the night, leaving Juliet with the enormous task of explaining to David what happened. She knows that Jack would have done it with her eventually, but it would have broken his heart just as much has losing their daughter did. Even when her own heart is breaking, she loves Jack too much to make him suffer more.
That night is the first time Juliet wishes she didn't love Jack as much as she did.
Unfortunately, it won't be the last.
v. clementine ford
Their son is way too young to be getting married.
Jack and Juliet are both aware of this, but they are more aware of their tenuous relationship with David which hangs in the balance. So Jack holds his tongue and Juliet smiles politely as David parades out the love of his life, a girl named Clementine whose eyes them both with all the mistrust they cannot afford to show.
"Behave," Juliet warns at the engagement party because Jack has just met the Clementine's parents and he can already tell why she is so on edge. They are not the warm and fuzzy type of people. They radiate distrust.
Of course, his frustration could be solely based on the way James Ford's eyes wander to his wife's ex-wife's ass and knows he has no right to feel this jealous. Jack knows his own actions were, after all, the reason they fell apart. He chose not to face his wife's miscarriage and then he chose to cover for his father with late nights and added patients. He put his own misery ahead of his wife and child, and Juliet had too much pride to allow herself to be walked all over.
Part of him also knows that they never really fell out of love. They just allowed life to get in the way.
But Jack does behave for his son's sake and maybe because he loves his ex-wife enough to let her be happy, even if it means he has to watch her flirt with a man who is charming like a fox.
"You really shouldn't have let that one go." He turns around at the sound of the voice and finds Clementine there, sipping at her champagne for appearances sake only.
"It's complicated." Jack really doesn't want to discuss his ex-wife with his future daughter-in-law. Especially when said daughter-in-law has a knack for not holding back, and he doesn’t value blunt honesty like he used to.
Clementine rolls her eyes. "Aren't they always? You know I bet you always thought things were gonna suck between you and David."
Jack's eyebrows furrow. "What's your point?"
"It got better. Same could go for you and Juliet."
Jack laughs. "You really think so?"
Clementine smiles and she is the spitting image of her father. "I'm an optimist."
--
Later, long after Clem and David leave and the Fords follow suit, it is just Jack and Juliet sitting at one of the empty banquet tables as the hotel employees clean up the hall around them. Juliet does most of the talking. Jack is too distracted by Clementine's words to say much.
They find the need lately to stretch their time together as far as they can without discussing why they need to do so. If they don't talk about the unresolved issues, than they can pretend they moved on and aren't miserable without each other.
"What did James Ford want?" Jack finally gets the nerve to ask.
Juliet blushes and Jack feels a little nauseous. “He asked me out for coffee."
"Really?" He doesn't ask if she said yes because he knows it's none of his business, but more importantly he doesn't think he can handle the answer.
Juliet bites her lip before continuing. "I told him I didn't want to screw my son up anymore than I already did by going out with his father-in-law." Juliet smiles sheepishly. "And besides-"
"You don't drink coffee."
Juliet pauses and for a second Jack thinks that not what she meant. "I would have been wasting his time."
Jack doesn't know how to take that, but he finds that Clementine's optimism is contagious "You know you're welcome to come back to my apartment for some tea."
Juliet shakes her head. "You don't drink tea."
"I keep it for whenever you might come around."
"Jack..."
A sigh escapes his lips when she looks at him. He knows they've burned a lot of bridges to get here, but he cannot overlook all the good either. “It’s just tea."
"Just tea?" Juliet says skeptically.
Jack shrugs. "Maybe I miss your grilled cheese."
Juliet laughs, the tension of the whole conversation temporarily draining from the room. "If you're good, I'll make you some."
It's a small promise, but like everything else in their life together it can go a long way.
---
endnote: As you may have noticed, I aged Julian and Clementine. Yes, it was intentional. If the Lost writers can screw around with time to fit their purposes, than I argue so can I.
Character(s)/Pairing(s): jack/juliet
Word Count/Rating: 2,808, pg-13
Summary: five times a child changed their lives. set in the alternate timeline. spoilers for 6x05.
A/N: For missy_useless's winning bid at help_haiti. She asked for Jack/Juliet, and this ridiculously fluffy piece is what I came up with. Also for the sacred_20 prompt heaven and challenge #100 over at lostfichallenge, alternate universe
i. alex loizzo
They meet during Jack's first year of residency, when Juliet brings in a little boy named Alex to see Dr. Christian Shepherd.
Alex was born to a mother just six months out of chemotherapy. The boy's mother was part of a case study Juliet had worked on in med school. This case study was also where Juliet's sister Rachel had conceived her own son. Needless to say, she had taken a special interest in all the children who had been born during those three years.
Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that Alex has a tumor attached to his spinal column. Juliet knows, scientifically, it has nothing to do with his mother's cancer. There's still a part of her that wonders if this was punishment for a group of researchers attempting to play god.
So Juliet waits with the family, one hour in the waiting room and another hour in an exam room so they can see the illusive Dr. Christian Shepherd. The waiting isn’t even the worst part, though. It’s Dr. Shepherd's nurse. Nurses tend to like her, but something about her must rub this one the wrong way because every time Juliet tries to ask her a question, she shoots out of the room like a bat out of hell.
Finally she attempts to chase after her, making it as far as the door when a doctor roughly her own age blocks her exit. He picks up the chart on the back of the door, and then smiles right over Juliet's head at the boy swinging his feet off the ledge of the exam table.
"Alex?" he asks, and when the little boy smiles at him, he adds. "I'm Jack.” He turns to the woman sitting beside the boy, “And you must be Mrs. Loizzo." Alex's mother smiles as well. Jack's mood is infectious enough that they forget all about the exceedingly long wait.
Juliet is not so lucky. "I thought we'd be meeting with Dr. Shepherd."
Jack smiles down at Juliet, who is still invading his personal space. He takes it in stride. "You are." He points to his nametag. Jack Shepherd, M.D.
"Dr. Christian Shepherd," Juliet clarifies.
"He's running late," Jack says. Juliet can tell when someone is hiding something, and the way Jack's eyebrows crease, even if it is for a split second, worry her. "Dr. Shepherd wants me to handle the pre-ops."
"So you've already decided surgery is an option?"
"Jules," Mrs. Loizzo interjects, but Jack takes the bait anyways.
"His x-rays have us optimistic. The tumor hasn't grown in the past few weeks. We definitely think it's worth the risk." Jack's hand lingers above her shoulder for a moment before making contact. "Why don't you sit down, Dr. Carlson, and we can discuss this some more?"
Juliet's eyes narrows, but she does take her seat. "I never gave you my name."
Jack shrugs. "I did my homework."
-
Alex is admitted into the hospital a week before his surgery is scheduled. Around the same time, Jack, who plays middleman for his father, tells Juliet that she's being allowed in on the case officially. Juliet is sure it is all Jack's doing.
Their third day of treating Alex Jack arrives with a piping hot cup of Earl Grey Tea and drops it ceremoniously in Juliet's hands. The label is stretched between her thumbs. The best Earl Grey you can get in the city comes from a little mom and pop shop hidden in the midst of dry cleaners and antique shops on 1st Ave. Not many people have heard of it.
Juliet sips from the cup tentatively. "You haven't been stalking me, have you?" she asks.
Jack shakes his head, amused. "No."
Juliet smiles, his grin really is infectious. "How'd you know?"
Jack seems almost too pleased at the question. "Homework." He taps his pen twice on the ledge as if to emphasize his point.
Juliet turns back to her chart, hoping if she ignores his efforts they won't bug her so much. It's not that she doesn't like being flirted with, and she certainly doesn't mind free tea, especially when her cup of choice tends to be ridiculously expensive. In fact, she doesn't know what it is about Jack Shepherd that has her so uneasy.
She takes another sip of her tea. Extra orange - exactly how she takes it.
When she looks back up to ask him how he could have possibly known that, he's already gone.
ii. julian carlson
Jack isn't a strategist when it comes to dating, but by the time he convinces Juliet to take a chance on him, he has dated enough women to know that their relationship will thrive or die based on his ability to impress the men in her life.
For Juliet, there is just one man who counts.
Julian Carlson is five years old, and the minute he meets Jack his eyes narrow in distrust. Not even Jack's most convincing smile will make the kid budge. He is the pint-sized version of Juliet.
"He doesn't like me," Jack says, when Julian finally gets tired of glaring at him and runs off to play with the new toy truck Juliet bought him. As a rule, Jack usually isn't good with kids, unless they're patients and that's because he only sees them in short intervals.
"He doesn't know you," Juliet argues.
Julian returns a moment later, tugging on Juliet's sleeve, furiously. "Aunt Juliet, can I talk to your boyfriend in private."
Juliet tries really hard not to giggle at the obvious terror working its way onto Jack's face. "Sure."
She manages a wink, before sliding out of the room to find Rachel and leaves Jack and Julian to themselves.
Julian doesn't waste anytime once Juliet's gone. "Are you going to marry Aunt Juliet?"
Jack stares down at him blankly, caught off guard and hoping he heard wrong. "Excuse me?"
Julian rolls his eyes. "Isn't that what happens next?"
Jack decides aversion is his best option. He knows it worked like a charm on him as a kid. “Would you be okay with me marrying her?"
Julian shrugs. "I guess."
"Good." Jack nods and then Julian stares at him pensively. The ten seconds that follow are some of the most awkward moments of Jack's life, and when Julian finally smiles and runs out of the room, Jack lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Jack leans back against the table and buries his head in his hands.
When Jack finally looks up, he finds Juliet standing there.
"What's the verdict?" Jack asks.
"He's calling you Uncle Jack now." Juliet leans against the table, close enough to him so that their shoulders and hips brush. "Do I want to know what you two were talking about?"
Jack tilts his head mischievously. "I think I asked for his permission to marry you."
iii. david shepherd
Once they find out they're having a boy, they cannot seem to agree on a name for him. At first, it's just a difference in taste. They're both traditionalists, but Jack wants the name to be significant, to have some sort of meaning or story behind it. Juliet thinks the name needs to evoke an emotion, conjure an image.
Their families think they're over thinking the whole thing.
By Juliet's 32nd week, they're still at a deadlock.
"What about Benjamin?" Jack asks.
It's a lazy Saturday, one of the few weekends where neither of them have surgeries scheduled or post-ops and pre-ops to attend to. They spend it curled up on the sofa. Juliet's head rests on Jack's shoulder, her fingers tracing the letters of the offered up name.
Jack's hand ghosts over her lower back and she barely muffles her shiver.
"No." Juliet says, definitively. She runs through all the suggestions in the parenting books she’s picked up. "What's your favorite Shakespeare play?"
Jack cracks a grin. He read that tip too. "Romeo and Juliet," he says, and it's only because he's only ever read one Shakespeare work. "So unless you want him to grow up with an oedipal complex..."
Juliet laughs against his chest, muttering something about Hamlet that goes right over his head.
Jack nudges her with his chin. "What's yours?"
It takes her a while to realize what he's referring to but then she smiles, "Richard III"
Jack's eyebrows rise. "Richard, huh?"
Juliet wrinkles her nose, "It sounds old."
And Jack sighs again. "Maybe we should just name him something that starts with a J."
"Like John or Jacob or"
"-James" Jack finishes. They've had this conversation many times before, and it always ends the same. They narrow it down to three J names and then decide that the idea of a family with matching monograms is a little too sickly sweet for their stomachs.
Juliet shifts in his arms, so that her stomach fits firmly against Jack's side. It triggers something in him.
"We should name him David," Jack says, the word coming to him out of nowhere. The name is one of the few that they have never mentioned or even remember coming across as they skimmed through naming books.
Juliet's forehead crinkles. "Should I ask why?"
The problem is Jack doesn't actually have a why, but he is very good at improvising. "I'm a Van Halen fan, and you wrote your thesis on David Bowie."
Juliet tries to keep a straight face. "It's like a sign from above, Jack."
Jack laughs. It is a terrible reason for a name. "So no to David, then?"
Juliet lets the name roll around in her head, before testing it on her tongue, there's something about it, something that sets it apart from all the rest they've been trying out. "I actually like it. It sounds fresh."
Jack frowns. "He's not produce."
"I'm serious." Juliet pokes him in the side just above his appendectomy scar to prove it.
"I don't know if I can name him that now. Every time I look at him I'll be thinking about grocery shopping."
"Maybe that's a good thing. I'd save money on post-its."
Jack smiles. He finds the tiny squares in his briefcase throughout the week, reminding him to pick up milk or paper towel or as of Juliet's third trimester, bags of large marshmallows and mayonnaise. One or the other will wind up spread over her dinner.
Jack picks up the pad of paper that has stayed empty for months. "I'll put it on the list."
It wins by default. And it isn't until years later that Jack finds out that Juliet's thesis was on the genetic links to maternal mortality in the second trimester and that all the David Bowie she played was really just background music.
iv. leah shepherd
Naming a girl proves to be much easier than naming a boy. They have a name - Leah - by the time Juliet is eight weeks along. The nursery is painted by ten weeks, and all they can do is wait anxiously after twelve weeks as David goes around telling anyone who will listen all about his new sister.
When the doctor tells them the news, Juliet feels as though someone took a sledgehammer to her stomach. In one foul swoop everything they have seems to be torn to pieces. When they get home, Juliet collapses on the bed, stays wrapped in Jack's arms as he cries the tears she can't. She suffers in silence, but hopes that it will be okay because they are in this together.
That hope ends when David comes home from school with another picture he drew for his little sister, and something in Jack shatters, his anguish written all over his face.
He leaves the room, goes back to work, and stays there the rest of the night, leaving Juliet with the enormous task of explaining to David what happened. She knows that Jack would have done it with her eventually, but it would have broken his heart just as much has losing their daughter did. Even when her own heart is breaking, she loves Jack too much to make him suffer more.
That night is the first time Juliet wishes she didn't love Jack as much as she did.
Unfortunately, it won't be the last.
v. clementine ford
Their son is way too young to be getting married.
Jack and Juliet are both aware of this, but they are more aware of their tenuous relationship with David which hangs in the balance. So Jack holds his tongue and Juliet smiles politely as David parades out the love of his life, a girl named Clementine whose eyes them both with all the mistrust they cannot afford to show.
"Behave," Juliet warns at the engagement party because Jack has just met the Clementine's parents and he can already tell why she is so on edge. They are not the warm and fuzzy type of people. They radiate distrust.
Of course, his frustration could be solely based on the way James Ford's eyes wander to his wife's ex-wife's ass and knows he has no right to feel this jealous. Jack knows his own actions were, after all, the reason they fell apart. He chose not to face his wife's miscarriage and then he chose to cover for his father with late nights and added patients. He put his own misery ahead of his wife and child, and Juliet had too much pride to allow herself to be walked all over.
Part of him also knows that they never really fell out of love. They just allowed life to get in the way.
But Jack does behave for his son's sake and maybe because he loves his ex-wife enough to let her be happy, even if it means he has to watch her flirt with a man who is charming like a fox.
"You really shouldn't have let that one go." He turns around at the sound of the voice and finds Clementine there, sipping at her champagne for appearances sake only.
"It's complicated." Jack really doesn't want to discuss his ex-wife with his future daughter-in-law. Especially when said daughter-in-law has a knack for not holding back, and he doesn’t value blunt honesty like he used to.
Clementine rolls her eyes. "Aren't they always? You know I bet you always thought things were gonna suck between you and David."
Jack's eyebrows furrow. "What's your point?"
"It got better. Same could go for you and Juliet."
Jack laughs. "You really think so?"
Clementine smiles and she is the spitting image of her father. "I'm an optimist."
--
Later, long after Clem and David leave and the Fords follow suit, it is just Jack and Juliet sitting at one of the empty banquet tables as the hotel employees clean up the hall around them. Juliet does most of the talking. Jack is too distracted by Clementine's words to say much.
They find the need lately to stretch their time together as far as they can without discussing why they need to do so. If they don't talk about the unresolved issues, than they can pretend they moved on and aren't miserable without each other.
"What did James Ford want?" Jack finally gets the nerve to ask.
Juliet blushes and Jack feels a little nauseous. “He asked me out for coffee."
"Really?" He doesn't ask if she said yes because he knows it's none of his business, but more importantly he doesn't think he can handle the answer.
Juliet bites her lip before continuing. "I told him I didn't want to screw my son up anymore than I already did by going out with his father-in-law." Juliet smiles sheepishly. "And besides-"
"You don't drink coffee."
Juliet pauses and for a second Jack thinks that not what she meant. "I would have been wasting his time."
Jack doesn't know how to take that, but he finds that Clementine's optimism is contagious "You know you're welcome to come back to my apartment for some tea."
Juliet shakes her head. "You don't drink tea."
"I keep it for whenever you might come around."
"Jack..."
A sigh escapes his lips when she looks at him. He knows they've burned a lot of bridges to get here, but he cannot overlook all the good either. “It’s just tea."
"Just tea?" Juliet says skeptically.
Jack shrugs. "Maybe I miss your grilled cheese."
Juliet laughs, the tension of the whole conversation temporarily draining from the room. "If you're good, I'll make you some."
It's a small promise, but like everything else in their life together it can go a long way.
---
endnote: As you may have noticed, I aged Julian and Clementine. Yes, it was intentional. If the Lost writers can screw around with time to fit their purposes, than I argue so can I.