“I want to talk.” Kate didn’t waste any time and got straight to the point. She lowered herself onto the self-built cot and watched Juliet still standing in front of her hut, her head slightly tilted to the side.

“This is no interrogation, is it?” Juliet slowly blinked her big blue eyes and starred at the brunette.

She always looks like she’s smiling, Kate thought. Is she really, she wondered. “Take a seat.”

Juliet looked up and down the beach to see if there was anything suspicious. She still waited for one of them to attack her. But she couldn’t really blame them. She’d do the same in their position. Sayid and Sawyer had interrogated her a couple of times and she had given away some information. Information she thought would buy her time. Ben had been right; saving Claire had bought her some time and a small amount of trust.

“I just want to talk.” Kate watched her every move when she entered and slowly sat down.

“There’s nothing else I can tell you. I already told you everything I know.” Juliet spoke quietly.

If she was any more confident, Kate thought, I’d call her arrogant.

It was getting darker outside and the ebbing sea was roaring. The trees were windswept and swallowed every other sound.

“Do you know as much about everyone else as you know about Jack?” Kate pulled her leg up and rested her head on the wall.

“Your name is Katherine Austen, you’re from Iowa, and you’re a fugitive. Your mother doesn’t want to see you because you blew up the house of your biological father and killed him, you robbed a bank in New Mexico and you were married to a man named Kevin Callis.” Juliet didn’t need to ask if she meant everyone or just her. She kept looking at Kate.

Before Kate could snap out of the shock she felt by being confronted with her past by a stranger, Juliet started talking again. “Don’t think I wanted to know all that. Ben had me learn the facts to use them against you.”

Kate looked at her as if Juliet had grown another head.

“How does he know all that,” she trailed off and frowned. And why is she looking at me like that, Kate wondered.

“I don’t know.” The blondes voice was just loud enough for Kate to hear her. “There’s a lot I don’t know.”

There was a long silence until Kate leaned forward on her bent knee. “If you don’t want to be left behind again, why don’t you try to get even? Why not tell me some more about yourself now that you know all about me?” Kate’s cheeks were flushed and she hated how calm Juliet usually was. She never seemed to show any emotions.

“I’m Juliet Burke, I’m a fertility doctor from Miami. I have a sister named Rachel and a niece or nephew I haven’t been allowed to see yet and I’m divorced. I arrived on the island over 3 years ago and they want me to believe they brought me here on a submarine. The same one Locke blew up shortly before it was supposed take me and Jack off the island. After I had shot Danny Pickett, I was imprisoned and sentenced to death but Ben helped me and I got branded instead.”

“Flawed,” Kate mumbled after a while and looked up into the other woman’s blue eyes. “You’re flawed.”

“What?” Juliet didn’t know what Kate was talking about and frowned.

“That’s why they left you behind, because you’re flawed now.” The brunette noticed the worried look on Juliet for the first time. She looked sad and fragile, her eyes cast downwards to her hands, just like she could literally see the blood.

Was that Ben’s plan, Juliet wondered? You never knew with this sneaky bastard.

A moment later the look was gone but she started to shake.

"Let's go get your blankets for tonight, these cots are rather hard to sleep on. " Kate got up and walked outside.

~ ~ ~

“For her?” Hurley cast a dismissing look towards the blonde.

“I said I need another blanket. Will you give me one or not?” Kate blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and put her hand to her hip.

“Dude, watch your back,” Hurley handed her one of the Dharma-stock and trotted back off to his tent when the first raindrops fell.

“Thanks,” she called after Kate who stopped and waited for her to catch up. "I know you didn't have to do that."

Kate wanted to reply a "You're welcome" but it just didn't come across her lips. Sighing, she kept walking. "Whether you like it or not, you're one of us now."

~ ~ ~

I've seen what she's capable of, but why am I not afraid of Juliet anymore, Kate pondered and pulled the warming cover tighter around her body. They were both sitting on her cot, their legs pulled up.

"How long have you been here?" the brunette asked and watched Juliet lean her head backwards and snort.

"Three years." she replied softly.

"And how did you get here?"

"With a submarine but I was feeling sick and passed out during the trip." Juliet had already told that to Sayid and Sawyer before but she didn't mind saying it again. Kate was right, she was a part of them now. She should be happy to be still alive.

Juliet starred out into the rainy night. Taking a deep breath, she looked back over to Kate who was watching her curiously. Then she started explaining how she had gotten into the whole mess. About her sister, her husband who was hit by a bus. Everything.

Kate couldn't help but let her eyes wander while the blonde revealed her whole life to her. Even in the dark her eyes looked remarkably blue, they even seemed to glow. Especially when she looked Kate in the eyes.

Kate liked the way she slowly blinked. No, I don't like her, period, the brunette sighed, not how she looks, not how she looks at me, nothing about her. And especially not this all-knowning-smile, Kate argued with herself. It took her a moment to realize Juliet had stopped talking and was watching her.

Kate blinked and tried to remember what Juliet had just told her.

"I said I miss my sister and am wondering how she's doing." Juliet smiled. She really smiled for the first time since she had joined the camp. But the look on Kate's face was priceless.

"Sorry, I was just," Kate trailed off. “I was just debating with myself whether I should like you or not,” Kate nibbled on her lip.

"You can tell me to shut up if you don't," Juliet said though she knew that she wasn't boring the other woman.

"Where did they go?" Kate let the blanket drop from her shoulders because she suddenly wasn't feeling so cold anymore. If the blonde noticed anything, she didn't comment but rather talked some more about the past.

"I don't know." Juliet put a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask but I might not answer," Kate replied.

"Fair enough," Juliet nodded. "What did you mean by flawed?"

"That's what Mikahin said to us. We were not on the list because we're flawed. He also said that Locke wasn't because he was angry and Sayid weak and frightened." Kate chuckled though it wasn't the least funny.

"I guess I am", Juliet's voice was merely a whisper. Then there was silence.

Kate wanted to ask her to keep talking because she liked the sound of the blondes voice but she didn't, and so they sat there listening to the wind and rain.

~ ~ ~

The next thing Kate noticed were gentle fingers running through her hair and warm lips covering her own. The warmth that spread through her whole body starting from the pit of her stomach made her shiver. A soft body pressed against hers and she encircled a slim waist with her arms. When their lips parted and Kate opened her eyes, she looked into the blue of the ocean on a sunny day. She wanted to keep starring into those beautiful eyes but she couldn't keep hers open when the blonde leaned in again. The second kiss was slow and sensual. ...

Kate almost fell off her cot  and woke up. "I must have fallen asleep," she looked over to Juliet who seemed to be amused.

"Sure." Juliet smiled.