Kate's knees hit the ground almost immediately after she was being shoved into the cage, a squeaking sound announced the door being shut in her back. She didn't care about the pebbles piercing her skin mainly because she hardly felt her body anymore after breaking rocks from sunrise to sunset.

She toppled over to her side and her vision blurred and swayed as her throat burnt with thirst. Rolling onto her stomach with the last bit of strength she could muster, she propped herself up on her elbows and crawled through the dirt towards the puddle of water in the corner.

With trembling arms she held herself over the puddle and hung her mouth into the water, the first contact sent a burning pain through her lips. She hardly had enough control over her muscles to drink properly. Swallowing seemed almost impossible and she merely rinsed her mouth than drank before her arm muscles failed to support her and she hit the ground with her chest, pressing the air out of her lungs momentarily.

"Freckles, you okay?", she heard a grunting voice from a distance and pushed herself on her side, hardly seeing the blonde man holding onto the bars of his cage tightly through her heavy eyelids. Kate felt a bitter laugh roaring in her chest but it never made it past her throat. It was too dry, her mind too light, her body too weak to even speak and she simply closed her eyes, curled up into a ball, the sand scraping her skin, and surrendered herself to the darkness of her nightmares rather than take the humiliation of her weakness just a second longer.

Somewhere in the blackness, Kate was faintly aware of sensations to her body, a burning stinging to her wrists and knees and coolness to the heat of her wounds. But it seemed too far away, her body too exhausted, her mind too clouded to react.

She heard her name being whispered as her head left the ground and something soft covered her cheek. Water met her lips, seeping through the small gap between them. A mouthful at a time, Kate regained a little bit of strength until she managed to fight the heaviness of her eyelids and flutteringly a face looking down at her came into focus.

The moment her eyes met the brilliant blue ones panic exploded in her chest and she gasp for air as her body failed to do anything else.

"It's okay, Kate.", she was being told in a soft voice as if reassuring words from the woman who'd been watching her break rocks all day, been watching her sway and fall over her own feet from exhaustion with a smile on her lips, would have the desired effect.

Her breath was going rapidly as she felt the adrenaline pulsing through her veins, clearing her mind, strengthening her muscles enough to jerk her head out of the woman's hands and push her torso up on shaking arms. Panting, she lifted her eyes to meet the calm and still blue ones of Juliet. Clenching her teeth in an effort to keep herself up, she glared at the woman whose face was as motionless and cold as ever.

But as Juliet put the bottle in her hand down in front of Kate, for a split second she thought there was a flicker of sadness – hurt even – in her eyes, causing a lump in Kate's throat. For split second she looked more vulnerable than she'd ever seen anyone before, more damaged and lost.

Before Kate could be sure she'd really seen a sign of humanity in her, Juliet was on her feet and looked down at her with the same expression she'd had all day, superior, supervising, careless and cold.

"Drink up.", she told her and Kate wondered why her voice was hardly more than a whisper, which made it sound almost soft, almost caring.

Kate kept herself upright until Juliet was out of sight and then slumped down, looking at the bottle in front of her eyes and even in the darkness, Kate could tell by the brownish color it wasn't water. She lunged for it, unscrewing it and put her nose to the neck of the bottle but there was no smell at all. If not for the color, it could've just been water.

For a moment Kate's pride wanted to throw the bottle away, her suspicion warning her. But then she remembered she'd already drunk from said bottle and maybe her strength wasn't the result her body's chemical reaction caused by fear after all. Maybe she'd really seen that flicker of hurt of being rejected, maybe her voice had really carried a hint of compassion. Maybe Juliet had been whispering because she was helping her against her orders.

Kate held on to that thought a little longer, to the warm tingling it caused in the pit of her stomach before pushing it away with a bitter silent laugh. Was she really desperate enough to see an ally in the enemy?

She remembered something else and in panic she closed one hand around the wrist of the other, feeling nothing of the expected pain. Looking down she found them bandaged, protecting her wounds from the dirt.

Frowning, she relaxed as much as she possibly could on the hard ground. She tried to figure out what kind of game the blonde woman was playing – was she supposed to gain her trust by pretending she broke rules? But before her mind could go any further the exhaustion got too overwhelming and for the second time that night, she lost herself in darkness.

The sky had hardly turned a lighter shade when she felt arms pulling her up by the shoulders and a harsh voice told her to wake up. She tried opening her eyes but once again, they felt like they were glued shut.

The back of a hand met her cheek and the exploding pain on her skin jerked her eyes open.

She found a short man opposite her, one hand holding on to a riffle, his eyes squinted at her, filled with disgust and pity as he looked at her.

"Get her down to the work site.", he barked at the man to Kate's left and felt herself immediately being dragged away. Outside the cage they let go of her and pushed her forward. She stumbled and lost her balance, scraping on the ground with her knees she fell onto her hands.

"Kate!" She recognized Sawyer's growling voice immediately as she clenched her teeth at the burning pain in her knees. She felt her eyes fill with tears involuntarily. Behind her, she could hear his grunting as he struggled with his own guards. "You son of a bitch!", he yelled.

"Shut up.", the immediate response from of the men who'd dragged her out of the cage came and again, she was pulled up by her shoulders.

Kate turned her head to see the short man step up to Sawyer, who was still trying to shake off the two men restraining him on either side, blonde hair falling into his face intensified the anger in his eyes.

"And him.", he said and though Kate could only see the back of his head, she could hear the grin on his face in his words when he said: "Get him to Ben. No smooching for you today, my friend."

Trying to jerk his arms free, Sawyer was being dragged the other way and once he was out of sight, Kate found herself free again. Another hard push in her back and she stumbled forward, still looking after him.

"Eyes front, missy.", the short guy barked at her and Kate found herself obey his order, too exhausted to fight anymore.

An hour later, the sun already burning hot on Kate's skin, she felt just as exhausted as she had felt when she'd been shoved in the cage the previous night. Every time she lifted the pick she swayed under its weight, the force with which she drove it into the stone hardly left a scratch.

Another two hours later and five times her legs had refused to carry her weight any longer, hitting the ground hard each time and causing more bruises and scratches to her knees and legs, Kate's sight had been reduced to a colorful blur, the noises reached her ear from far away.

Her throat was burning unbearably, her lips chapped due to dehydration, her clothes soaked in sweat. Once again she felt the trembling of her legs, announcing the refusal of their service. She was spared the pain when her body collided with the ground this time though, being wrapped in numbing darkness Kate heard nothing of the yelp that accompanied her fall from a distance.

Her arm felt like ice. No, not her arm, her veins. The sensation accompanied by a tingling up her arm like it had fallen asleep.

The only thing she saw when she managed to open her eyes was blinding white and for a second she actually thought she was dead. But if she really was dead, she wouldn't be granted the white light, she reminded herself, more like red hot light.

Something shielded her eyes from the light before Kate could even think using her hand to get the same effect. Squinting her eyes she made out a silhouette.

"You will kill yourself if you keep being so stubborn." Fingers brushed the inside of her arm and Kate's head jerked to the side, finding delicate long fingers, fixing an IV with a stripe to her skin. "You should've just drunk the water I gave you." The liquid in the bag flowing through her veins, Kate noticed, had the same brownish color of said water.

Kate's first thought was to rip the IV out but a sharp pain shot through her wrist as she tried to use her other arm to act on her instinct. She didn't really have to look to know she would find it handcuffed, but she looked anyway.

"If you promise to behave, I will take it off." Kate shot the silhouette an angry glance, knowing exactly she would look into a pale face framed by blonde hair once her eyes would adjust to the brightness, and sure enough a few seconds later the piercing blue of her eyes came into focus.

"Will you?", Juliet asked, her face clearly visible now, a frown on her forehead as she looked down, her head tilted to the side. Kate looked around to figure out why the blonde was so much taller all of a sudden and found herself cuffed to a bed in a room full of them.

"Will I what?", she said through gritted teeth, trying to hide the panic that flooded her at the realization she was at Juliet's cold-blooded mercy.

"Behave.", the blonde stated softly and raised her eyebrows like she was putting a question mark at the end of a sentence.

For a moment Kate actually considered to nod before she reminded herself who she was talking to. Clearly Juliet wouldn't simply uncuff her when her people had locked her up in a cage to keep her under control. But then again, they might have just chosen to imprison her like that to simply humiliate her by treating Kate like an animal.

Juliet took Kate's lack of words obviously as an agreement because she rounded the bed and pulled a key out of her pocket and the next second Kate found her wrist freed from the painful metal hitting against her already sore skin.

Now it was her turn to frown and once again she wondered what kind of mind game the blonde was playing.

"Where am I?", she demanded to know as Juliet put the handcuffs on the bedside table.

"The infirmary.", Juliet said lightly as she turned back, the usual calm expression on her face. Juliet's hand reached out to her face and Kate pulled it away with a jerk, shock and threat in her eyes as she glared at Juliet.

"You have a cut, I just wanna check if you need stitches." Her voice was strangely reassuring as her hand kept reaching forward, slower now though, as if she was approaching a wild animal. The blue of her eyes was different somehow, not as hard and cold as Kate remembered it. There was something else, too. Something soft, almost kind and the observation captivated Kate long enough for the blonde to lie her fingertips on her cheek, her thumb putting light pressure on the edge of her brow, causing a piercing wave of pain and Kate flinched, sucking in the air sharply.

"Sorry.", Juliet apologized and it sounded sincere and caring. When the blonde pulled her hand back and rummaged in the drawer of the bedside table Kate, felt the softness of her fingertips still lingering on her cheek and for a split second she was longing to hold on to the feeling.

When the blonde then sat down on her bed, the warmth of her thigh against her own, bending forward to disinfect her wound, Kate felt her cheeks flush.

Her eyes involuntarily scanned the blonde's face and lingered for a moment or two on her full lips before they wandered further down, to her chin, following her prominent jaw line down to the V-shaped neck of her shirt, lingering once again on the edge of her cleavage.

Kate's cheeks turned hotter still as her eyes continued their journey over the curves of her breasts, down the side where her shirt looked like second skin, to the small line of skin visible above her waistband.

"That should do it." Her voice felt like a slap and jerked her eyes up to meet Juliet's deep blue ones. A slight smile tug at her lips as she said: "Very brave." It took Kate a moment until she realized Juliet had just taken care of her cut and she had been too busy staring at her to even feel the slightest bit of pain.

Kate simply stared at her blankly and caused a frown on the blonde's face. "How are you feeling?"

She rubbed her index finger and thumb over her eyelids, trying to concentrate, to shake this weird prickling in the back of her neck the blonde's closeness caused. She felt like being drugged, and then thought, she probably was drugged. It would be a reasonable explanation why Juliet would be willing to uncuff her in the first place - because she knew Kate would be too disorientated to do anything.

"I'm fine.", she mumbled finally and looked deliberately the other way. She felt Juliet's eyes on her face for a moment or two before the blonde got up.

Kate's eyes scanned the room with dozens of empty beds and it seemed like a waste of space to her.

"What do you need an infirmary for anyway? I thought no one gets sick in this place?"

Juliet was on the right side of her bed again, her face hidden behind the door of a cupboard as she put the supplies back.

"No, but they get hurt.", she replied without looking at Kate as she closed the doors and turned back to the IV-bag, checking it's dripping. "Which has increased immensely since you got here.", she said towards the bag filled with brownish liquid without throwing Kate so much as a glance.

"Excuse us but we didn't know this island was already taken or we would've chosen another one to crash land on.", Kate said sarcastically and just when she thought she was going back to her old self, the one who was aware of the blonde being her enemy rather than noticing her stunning beauty. Juliet chuckled slightly at her words and the sound caused goose bumps all over her body.

She stared at her irritated. Was this really the woman who'd held her at gunpoint? Yes, she was, Kate realized, finally meeting her blue eyes, though there was a hint of kindness in them, they were still shallow, allowing not the faintest clue of what was going on inside, not a hint of her thoughts or feelings and Kate felt herself wanting to take off that mask of indifference to see who Juliet really was.

"Why are you doing this?", Kate heard herself ask before she even realized words had left her mouth and earned a curious look from the blonde who'd just turned as if to leave.

"Because it's my job." Sadness flickered in her eyes for a second as she pressed her lips together and Kate was wondering which question Juliet had really answered: Why she was taking care of her or why she treated her like a slave.

"You don't look like a nurse.", Kate kept on talking, feeling more in control as she did and really, control was what she needed right now with her body going haywire at the renewed closeness to the blonde.

"Probably, because I'm a doctor."

"Aren't you supposed to care about your patients?", Kate said with a hint of a sarcastic laugh in her voice, squinting her eyes provokingly as she looked up at the blonde, trying to ignore her fast beating heart and sweaty palms.

Juliet considered her for a moment before she bent slightly down, close enough for Kate to smell her scent but still with a considerable distance between their faces. The way the blonde looked at her, the way her eyes seemed to go right through her like she was searching for something in Kate's eyes, sent a shiver down the brunette's back.

"Do you feel not properly taken care of, Kate?", she asked sweetly but the sharp tone was hard to miss.

Kate's mouth went dry as Juliet bent a little further down still. A few seconds passed without a move or sound and then Juliet stood straight up again, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Personally I think I did a pretty good job, considering you lay unconscious in the dirt a few hours ago and now you're already able to be an ass again."

She'd turned away as she spoke and reached the end of the bed, denying Kate to read in her face if she was really as hurt as the last words had sounded. The blonde hesitated for a moment before she glanced back over her shoulder, meeting Kate's eyes again.

"I'll be back in a couple of minutes… just try and relax."

Kate stared after her and couldn't believe the blonde left her uncuffed. She couldn't seriously expect Kate not to take her chance and try to escape. Checking her wrists Kate's heart started racing in her chest. She scanned the room again for a guard she might have missed earlier but there was no one there.

Driven by her instincts Kate ripped out the IV and jumped off the bed and pressing her thumb on the part of skin where the IV had pierced her vein she peeked into the hallway leading to the front doors but found it just as empty.

Kate headed for the windows and pushed one up, surprised for a moment by her own strength. How was it possible for her to feel just a little shaken when she'd felt incapable of holding herself on her feet just hours ago?

She shook her head – this was really not the time to figure out one of those crazy things this place tended to surprise with – and legs first, climbed through the window. The infirmary was obviously on the edge of the village because all Kate saw was grassland and way back the edge of the jungle.

Without wasting another thought Kate started running as fast as she could and though it was physically impossible, the further away she got from the village, the closer she got to being free again, the stronger she felt.

Ignoring the sweat running down her back, the burning in her lungs and muscles Kate sprinted towards the edge of the jungle and couldn't believe how much of a salvation it felt running towards the wall of green, when it used to be the biggest threat in their first days on the island, not knowing what was snapping trees like toothpicks.

Just as she reached the shadows of the trees her entire body tensed, paralyzed her limbs and was shaken violently. She toppled over, curling and crouching as pain wave after pain wave agonized her into unconsciousness.

The first thing she felt was a throbbing pain in the back of her head. As she instinctively put her palm behind her head to cover the painful area. Her muscles felt like a lead weight, aching with the slightest move she made.

Kate flinched at the pain, causing the rest of the muscles in her body to tense and sent a hundredfold of the pain through her body. She groaned and tried to stay still.

"Serves you right." The voice was so close that Kate jumped in surprise, causing another wave of pulsing pain, another groan. She waited for it to pass before slowly, carefully turning her head and opening her eyes.

Juliet's blue ones looked at her, one corner of her mouth curled up in annoyance. She'd propped up one leg, her arm on her knee, her hand dangling loosely in the air.

Kate frowned. She'd expected to be back in the cage by now and as her eyes wandered around she realized, she was indeed back in the cage. She looked down her front and found herself sitting, leaning with her back against the wall.

It took her mind a few more seconds to put the pieces together before her head shot back to Juliet in surprise, the force of her move sending yet another wave of burning pain through her body.

"What –", she began but her words got lost in another groan.

"What am I doing here?", Juliet asked, her voice bitter as she asked herself the question Kate had had on her lips. "I'm being punished for your stupidity!", she exclaimed angrily. "You had to run away, didn't you? You couldn't just enjoyed the little bit of comfort I granted you. No, Kate Austen always has to run." A stone flew from Juliet's hand through the air and hit the iron bars with a loud clunking noise, echoing in Kate's ears and she felt like her brain was expanding, pressing against her skull.

She closed her eyes to the pain and leaned her head back, Juliet's words still spinning in her head.

"You're not really expecting me to believe this crap, right?", she said flatly into the silence between them without opening her eyes. But somewhere deep down Kate wasn't so sure she was really being played, Juliet's voice had been unusual high and unsteady, not to mention the frustration and rage vibrating in every word.

"Oh, fuck you, Kate." It wasn't so much what she said, but how she said it. There was nothing of the cool calculated vibe anymore but pure frustration that got Kate to look at the woman next to her who'd pulled her knees to her chest now and wrapped her arms around them.

For a moment Kate felt the urge to comfort the blonde at the unfamiliar sight of desperation and vulnerability she'd never shown before, but the throbbing in her head reminded her who the woman was, that shared her fate of being locked up in a cage.

She wondered why they'd been put in the same cage and thought of Sawyer. Her head shot round – another wave of pain – and looked at the empty cage opposite hers.

"Where's Sawyer?", she demanded to know.

The lack of an answer drew her eyes back to the blonde, who hadn't changed her position a bit.

"Juliet, where is he?"

The fellow prisoner sighed annoyed. "Still with Ben I assume."

"You assume?"

"In case you haven't noticed, Kate, I'm Ben's prisoner just like you, just like every goddamn soul on this fucking island." Though her voice was steady in the beginning, at her final words Kate could've sworn she heard a hint of the suffocated tone one had just seconds before bursting into tears. But Juliet had obviously still enough self-control left to stop herself – or maybe this was just a mind game after all and Juliet wasn't that good of an actress to be able to cry on the spot.

Still, Kate couldn't help but wonder if she was telling the truth. It wasn't like she knew the reasons Juliet was here in the first place and it certainly wasn't like you could just walk away – after all this was an island in the middle of God-knew-where and if Ben controlled everything, one would certainly not get off without his approval. So what if he really kept Juliet here? And why was she here in the first place?

Kate bit her lip, trying to figure out whether it was smart to simply ask, but would she be able to tell a lie from the truth?

"And what reason would he have to keep you here?", she asked, trying not show how much she really was interested in the answer. Kate tilted her head as the blonde failed to answer but simply kept staring ahead. She frowned at the way Juliet seemed to be lost in her thoughts and felt herself longing to know what caused the sad flicker in her blue eyes.

"Don't play with me, Kate.", she finally said, her voice flat and tired.

"What? I –"

"You think this is a trap anyway so don't waste your breath and my nerves pretending you care." Juliet turned her head to look at Kate, her face motionless except for her blinking of her heavy eye-lids. Her eyes though, were a chaos.

Kate had to look away, overwhelmed by what she saw. She felt like all the sadness and frustration, all the pain and devastation were slopping over, drowning her.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Juliet get up but then she didn't move, like she just realized there was no where she could go being surrounded by iron bars. Kate looked at her again as the blonde wrapped her arms around herself, her shirt slipping slightly upwards in the progress.

Kate gasped as she saw the burn mark on Juliet's lower back that couldn't be older than a few hours as it was still seeping.

Juliet turned around, curious what had caused the sudden intake of breath from the brunette and found her eyes on her back. Instantly she pulled her shirt down to cover her wound and walked to the other end of the cage, looking towards the jungle through the bars.

Kate stumbled to her feet. "What happened?", she breathed, approaching Juliet, the image of burnt flesh still visible on the back of her eyelids. Next to her she hefted her eyes on the side of her pale face and saw her jaw muscles tens before she spoke, keeping her eyes on the jungle.

"What do you think?" A hint of aggression resonated in her voice and Kate knew she was the one to blame for her punishment. If she hadn't exploited Juliet's kindness – if it had really been kindness of course – she wouldn't have suffered those burns.

Flooded with regret, Kate bit down on her lip. "I'm sorry.", she whispered and managed to get her blue eyes to meet her own.

A sad smile tug at Juliet's lips. It was forgiveness.

"Careful, freckles.", Sawyer grunted, nodding towards the blonde woman who'd already curled up on the ground in one corner.

Kate smiled as she shook her head. "I can handle her, don't worry."

"You sure?", he asked with a growl, not taking his eyes off the human ball and the burning rage in his eyes felt like a stab to her chest.

"James." Saying his real name always got his attention and it didn't fail her now. He took his eyes off Juliet and looked at her, his features softening immediately when he met her eyes.

"'m jus' worried. She's a col' blooded bitch. Jus' be careful alrigh'?"

Kate nodded, letting go of the bars and turned around. She stopped for a second and looked over to the blonde who, of course, had heard every of Sawyer's spiteful words. She could see her move in the dark and heard a low moan of pain as her skin tightened around her wound.

Kate glanced back at Sawyer's cage but he'd already lay down, his arms crossed behind his back and had closed his eyes. Another groan pulled Kate's eyes back to Juliet and a new wave of guilt crushed over her.

Biting down her lip she struggled with herself. She felt responsible and felt she had to do something – anything – to ease her pain. Another part told her it was foolish to think like that. She wasn't responsible, it had been Juliet's choice to uncuff her. She hadn't promised to 'behave', how the blonde had called it. There was no need for her to feel compassionate about one of them, no matter if she wanted to be one or not.

Yet, Juliet wasn't on the other side of the cage but looking through the bars at the world, just like Kate was forced to. Right now, whether Kate liked it or not – and if she was really honest with herself she liked having Juliet close more than she would ever audibly admit – they were in the same boat. It didn't matter if Ben would allow her back in his community tomorrow or in a week or never again, because on the island you didn't live for the next day. Everything that counts in a deadly place like this is to concentrate on the moment – survive the moment.

Kate crouched down at the far left of the cage, sticking her arm through the bars she felt around in the dark, thinking she remembered seeing an aloe vera plant a little outside the cage when she'd examined her prison after her arrival, looking desperately for a way to escape which she obviously hadn't been able to find.

Her hand brushed fleshy leaves and she tightened her hand around them, ripping one of them out before straightening up and hesitantly approaching the bundle in the other corner.

She remembered how soothing it had felt to the scratches on her cheek when Jack had covered them with the white juice of the plant, how fast it had healed.

"Leave me alone.", Juliet hissed from below as Kate reached her and the bitterness in her voice made Kate pause, feeling bitter herself now. She was only trying to help the woman who'd watched her being beaten and work herself sore.

"Fuck off, Kate." Her voice was louder now, more aggressive as she pushed herself up to glare at Kate who remained rooted to the spot, struggling with herself whether she should just throw the leave into her face or kick her shin for being this way.

Juliet sunk down to the ground, another groan of pain escaped her lips and Kate simply decided for the blonde. She knelt down, forcefully pulled up her shirt to get access to her wound.

"What the hell you think you -" Her words were interrupted by a yelp of pain as Kate brushed the juicy side of the leave against her burnt flesh and Juliet arched her back to escape the agonizing touch.

Kate pressed her free hand on Juliet's hips and leaned her weight on it to keep her on the spot.

"Hold still, will you?", she said through gritted teeth, needing more strength to keep the blonde from moving than she'd imagined. "I'm just trying to help for Christ's sake."

This had the desired effect. Juliet's hips stopped working against her hands as Kate covered the last bit of her wound with the white thick paste, causing a groan now and then accompanied by a slight trembling of her body.

Throwing the leave aside, Kate let go of Juliet's hip and realized how pleasant the warmth of her body had felt against her palm, now that it was gone. Shaking her head to get rid of thoughts like this, of thoughts like how soft her skin was, how wonderful her tensed muscles felt under her touch.

She pushed herself up and got back to the opposite side, which they had silently agreed to be hers for the night, and slumping down on the ground she leaned her back against the wall, closing her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her knees and felt the softness of Juliet's skin still against her palm.

"Thank you.", she heard a whisper from the other side and was thankful for the night, hiding the smile the blonde's words caused.

The next morning Juliet was dragged just as violently out of the cage as Kate, got handed the same tools to do the same work as the brunette and stumbled just as exhausted, sweaty and sore back behind the bars.

Ben only came to get Sawyer and bring him back at sunset. He never came for Juliet like Kate had expected and the blonde had hoped. Both women got pushed to the limit of their strength again and again while the space between their sleeping quarters got smaller and smaller every night, seeking each other's comfort when they already shared the pain.

In the opposite cage, Sawyer kept attacking Juliet every evening, kept warning Kate and she played along until he'd decided it to be enough for the day. When the snoring was carried by the wind to their cage, the women broke the silence and talked in whispers about who they used to be before their lives had been ripped apart.

Kate learned about Juliet growing up, her marriage and how it had fallen apart, the sister she had to leave behind and the nephew she never got to meet.

"Why don't you kill him?", Kate asked in a hushed voice on their sixth night, lying on her back next to Juliet, one hand resting on her own stomach, the other as a pillow under her head. "I would have.", she added, her voice shaking with anger.

"I already have enough blood on my hands.", Juliet answered in a suffocated voice, lying on her side, her eyes fixed on Kate's face.

Kate had been looking up at the starry night sky through the bars, but turned her head now to look at and lose herself once more in those brilliant blue eyes.

"It's not your fault those women died.", Kate told her softly, a slight smile tugging at her lips.

"Yes, Kate. It is. It's my fault because I was brought here to protect them. And I failed."

The bitterness in her voice pierced Kate's heart. She rolled over, one arm still under her head, the other one covering Juliet's instinctively in the urge to ease her guilt and pain. Kate knew this wouldn't do it, but she'd always felt, that knowing you're not alone was somewhat soothing to the soul.

The corner of the blonde woman's mouth twitched a little and Kate recognized it as one of those sad smiles that made her want to wrap her arms around the other woman and hold her tight.

As she felt Juliet's breath on her face, she suddenly realized how close the blonde was and felt a shudder run through her body as she smelled that sweet scent of her skin she'd fallen asleep to the past nights.

Her heart was pounding fast and hard all of a sudden, her breath shallow and rapid at the feel of Juliet's hand beneath hers and for a moment she felt very uncomfortable as she noticed an unfamiliar glimmer in the brilliant blue eyes, thinking she'd finally crossed the line she'd work so hard not to cross, felt like she should regret it, but didn't.

She was about to pull her hand back when she felt Juliet's thumb brush over the side of her hand, her touch causing goose bumps all over her body. Kate looked down at both their hands as if she had to check what she felt wasn't just a trick of her imagination. It wasn't.

As she looked at Juliet again, there was another twitched smile in the corner of her mouth. This one she didn't know. It was slightly playful and daring and caused Kate's muscles to tense in her struggle to suppress the growing urge to touch more than just her hand.

She couldn't. Couldn't pretend any longer this was just seeking comfort, couldn't pretend that she didn't want to feel every inch of Juliet's body, feel it upon hers, taste her skin, feel her fingers in her hair when she explored every bit of her curves.

All she heard was the insane deafening sound of her racing heart as she shifted a little closer – their noses almost touched – and felt the heat of her skin on her face.

Juliet's hand slid out under her own, left it lying in the sand. Kate held her breath – she'd gone too far – and felt the blonde's fingertips brushing her cheek – she'd gone just far enough. Her instincts told her to close her eyes, to feel every last bit of her tender touch, to feel it with all its intensity.

But Kate kept her eyes on Juliet, watched the glow in her eyes when her fingertips met Kate's skin, watched how her blue eyes scanned every inch of her skin before they met her own, pure wonder in their depth.

Juliet's hand lowered on her skin, her warm palm cupping Kate's cheek as she leaned in, hesitating as only an inch separated their lips. Hot breath met hot breath and the last thing Kate saw before she felt soft lips brushing against her own was the ocean blue of Juliet's eyes.

It was nothing like Kate had imagined it to be when she felt Juliet's bottom lip between hers, when she parted her lips and felt the tip of the blonde's tongue run along her teeth before it tenderly met her own.

It was so much better than she'd imagined it to be when she felt Juliet's fingertips wandering up and down her body, when hers explored her curves, first over than under their clothes, so much more intense when lips followed their hands, caressing every bit of skin with feather-light kisses and fluttering touches.

Kate's shirt was pulled over her head, her upper body earning special attention of Juliet's circling fingertips, followed by her lips, brushing against her skin, catching her breath in the back of her throat as the tip of the blonde's tongue drew lines across her skin and she arched her back against the sensation.

Item by item left their bodies, every newly freed skin being tenderly explored, every touch that earned a low moan from their lips savored until their mouths found each other again and Kate's hand disappeared between Juliet's legs, felt the blonde's thigh muscles tense between her own.

It was that moment, Kate saw the core of Juliet, saw the mask drop and reveal all the pain and terror, all of her kindness and compassion, all the loss and grief as her body trembled in synch with her own, their lips parted as their foreheads pushed against each other when waves of electricity shook their bodies.

Juliet panted against the brunette's shoulder, her hand covering half of Kate's breast just above her heart. When the blonde's breathing slowed down along with her own soft lips met her collar bone, a tongue pushing ever so gently against her skin before Juliet shifted her head and lay her it to rest on her chest, her body covering half of Kate's as she held onto her side, covering the blonde's hand above her heart with her own.

In silence they drifted away.

Hands tightened around the bars, their knuckles turning white. His shoulders trembled and his hips trembled even more as he watched their naked bodies on the ground.

He couldn't deny the arousal of the physical connection he'd just observed, unnoticed by either of the women.

He also couldn't deny the burning jealousy eating through him when he realized their bond beyond their bodies and he couldn't deny the boiling rage that made him clench his teeth.

She'd stolen what was his. He would get it back. And she would pay for ever possessing Kate's heart.