Title: Confidant
Rating: PG
Summary: When she opens the door, Alex is standing there, shaking a bit and crying. She throws her arms around Juliet, and all Juliet can do is pull her in and hold her close.
Disclaimer: I do not own Lost. At all. I wish but alas...
Author's Note: For un_love_you, prompt #23: You remind me of me.



A loud banging on her door at one in the morning wakes Juliet. She starts in her bed as her eyes try their best to adjust to the darkness of the room. She blinks a few times before climbing out of bed as the banging persists.

When she opens the door, Alex is standing there, shaking a bit and crying. She throws her arms around Juliet, and all Juliet can do is pull her in and hold her close. She sees the light of Ben’s house on a few doors down from hers. She thinks she sees him looking out the window, but he doesn’t come outside.

Juliet had run away from home a few times as a child (and stayed out all night a few times as a teenager), and even though Alex didn’t have much of anywhere to go here, she supposed it was natural for her to at least try. Ben knew that Alex hadn’t gone far, that she was safe with Juliet, so he let her go, knowing, eventually, she would have to come back.

“Come on inside,” Juliet says, pulling Alex inside the door and shutting it behind her. She sits Alex on the couch and brings her a box of tissues. Alex blows her nose loudly as Juliet sits down next to her. “What happened?”

“It’s Karl,” Alex says, somehow managing to sound furious, even through her sniffles. Of course it is, Juliet thinks. For Alex, everything is about Karl. For Ben, most everything is about keeping Alex away from Karl. Juliet’s actually amazed they haven’t had this conversation before now.

“What about Karl?” Juliet asks. Alex and Ben have had so many fights about Karl, over so many different things. She’s never found herself being brought into it before now. But Alex has always made it clear that she trusts her above everyone else. Alex knows her father, knows that he’s keeping Juliet here. She knows most of Ben’s secrets. Most importantly, though, she knows that Juliet resents her father almost as much as she does; so much it rises to the level of hatred, in both of them.

So, it was really only a matter of time before Alex ended up here, crying on her couch in the middle of the night. Ben has pushed them both so far, taken from them things that they feel a piece of them is lost without.

“He’s taking him with you,” Alex answers, bursting into tears again, sobbing as she buries her head in Juliet’s lap. Juliet closes her eyes and lets out an long, disgusted gasp. Ben disgusts her even more now than he had a second ago. He’s taking Karl away from Alex, to the other island, with them, when they bring in Austen, Ford, and Shephard.

Damn him.

She can’t tell Alex it’s going to be okay; she can’t lie to her. Ben is taking away the only person here that Alex really cares about, ripping her away from someone she loves and doing everything in his power to keep them apart. Juliet knows how that feels, knows what it’s like to be a prisoner of Benjamin Linus and what he wants.

She can’t do anything for Alex other than let her cry, rock her back and forth, and try to soothe her by running her finger through her hair. She can’t do any more for Alex than she can do for herself. Neither of them can stop Ben from taking from them the things that matter most.

“I hate him,” Alex says, almost choking on her words. She doesn’t say it like a six year old who’s parents won’t give her what she wants. She says it like she means it.

Juliet nods and her eyes slip closed. “I hate him too,” she whispers, but she doubts Alex hears her over her sobs. Maybe it’s better that way.