-1Chapter 15

She stood at the entrance to the hospital debating with herself whether or not to go in. St John’s hospital was only a couple of miles away, but no - she was here now, there would be no point in coming all this way, only to turn around and leave, simply because she was scared.

The automatic doors slid open as a doctor talking on his cell phone strolled out, not acknowledging her standing there looking as worried as hell. Juliet told herself to grow up and made her way in threw the doors. She walked down the too familiar halls and minutes later found herself standing in front of an office door. Without bothering to knock Juliet let herself into the office and shut the door quietly behind her.

Jack looked up from what ever he was doing, a surprised look on his face, as Juliet edged herself closer to his desk.

“I..”

.. wanted to see you… The words were on the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t bare to say them aloud.

This wasn’t the reason she was here. Jack stood up waiting for her to continue.

“I’m pregnant Jack”

He stood where he was, now looking even more shocked than he had originally looked. Juliet realised she probably should have said something else first. “No, I mean.. It’s not yours Jack, don’t worry! It’s.. Derek’s”. She bowed her head to the floor as she heard Jack breathe a sigh on relief, at least that’s what she took it to be.

“Or at least it was..”

Jack tried his hardest to gather his thoughts “What do you mean … was, Juliet? Why are you telling me this now, I don’t understand what’s going on here” . One minute he was slowly working his way through a tremendous amount of paper work, the next he had Juliet standing in the middle of his office telling him she was pregnant. If anything it was simply random, and confusing as to why she was telling him now, when he knew that she had chosen Derek over him and knew that he would probably never see her again. Her being there was just making it all that harder for Jack to forget about her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, really I am”, Juliet kept her head bowed as she spoke to him afraid to meet his eyes - afraid of what she might see. “I took another pregnancy test, just to be absolutely sure”, she stopped , fiddling with the tips of her fingers, wondering for the millionth time that day if this was the right thing to do “And.. It was negative”

Jack pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes trying to sooth the pounding headache he had been getting too frequently lately. “Juliet it could have just been a faulty..”, but she cut across him. “I bought test after test after test, Jack. All negative. If you want to try telling me they’re all faulty too, be my guest, but I’ll know.. I’ll still know that I lost my baby”

He had no choice but to believe her, but he was still wondering why she was here. This wouldn’t change anything between them? Would it?

“Aren’t you upset? It was your child, Juliet.. Your’s and your husband’s”

“It was still early, I guess it hadn’t sunk in yet, I never really thought it would happen after seeing every mother die on the island. I hadn’t put all my hopes on it”

Jack walked across the room and stood directly in front of her, giving her no choice but to look him in the eye “Are you sure about that, Juliet?”

Now it was Juliet’s turn to be confused about the situation “Yes, of course I’m sure, why..?”

“Are you sure that you didn’t just tell Derek you were pregnant to save your marriage?”

Juliet’s mouth opened but she didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds “No.. why would I do something like that? I’m not lying Jack, why would you think something like that of me!?”. Jack held his finger up to shush her “I’m not thinking it Jules, I was just asking. It’s okay, I believe you”.

Juliet tucked a piece of hair behind her ear “Oh..”

The two stood in Jack’s office, the silence playing too loud for either to bare. And Jack realised she was still withholding the information to why she had turned up here in the first place. Almost as if she had read his thoughts, Juliet broke the tension.

“Anyway.. I’m here because me being pregnant was the only thing keeping my marriage together”. Jack was becoming more convinced now that she had lied about her pregnancy, though he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, like he had done on so many countless occasions. “Derek won’t say it, but he’s barely uttered two words to me since I told him I miscarried”, Juliet continued, her voice starting to sound that little bit more shaky, her bottom lip trembling slightly.

Jack sighed, finding it horrible to have to resist the urge to pull her into a tight embrace. “Juliet I’m sure he’s just shocked, like anybody would be”. He couldn’t believe he was sticking up for this man. He could just as easily tell Juliet that Derek was being ungrateful, that she would be much better off with somebody else. Somebody like him. But Juliet was shaking her head.

“I left him, Jack”, she bit her lip and closed her eyes, sending two silent tears falling down angelic her face. “It’s clear he doesn’t want me anymore, after everything that’s happened between me and you.. And now this”. Juliet shook her head, quickly brushing her tears away with her sleeve. “I’ve left him for you, Jack”

She lifted her head to face him, it seemed to her Jack was still trying to take in this information. She suddenly became worried, after all that had happened, Jack might not want her. He may have even moved on, just like she did. As quickly as it had came, she pushed the thoughts straight out of her head and kissed him softly on the mouth. Much to her surprise Jack responded. He slipped his hands around her waist, pulling her into a hug.

“You’ve really left him, Jules? For me?”. He needed to hear her say it again just to be sure he hadn’t been imagining it. He felt her nod beside him. Juliet pulled back to face him, with tears in her eyes, a big smile on her face. “It’s always been you, Jack. Surely you knew that?”

“Well I had a feeling”

Juliet giggled and Jack grinned back at her “I love you so much”

“I love you too, always have done”. They stood there smiling at each other when the door swung open, revealing a flushed looking Dr. Ryan “Dr. Shephard, Mrs. Haplin wants to see you, something about..”

“It can wait”, Jack waved him off, never taking his eyes off Juliet.

“But”

“Out now, Jason!”

Dr. Ryan, looking absolutely terrified shut the door with a bang.

“You should haven gotten that, I’ll still be here when you get back”

Jack laughed “Oh yeah? Well I’m not taking that chance, I love you too much to lose you again”. Juliet flung her arms her around his neck, kissing him again “I love you too. Promise you won’t ever leave me”

“Not unless you leave me”

Juliet hit him playfully “Promise, Jack!”

“Okay, okay, I promise!”, and he kissed her again.

The End