Shortly after Juno and Jamie had made their return to the Hebridean Shadow, Jamie had been called on a quick delivery run, leaving Juno, Viv and Darcy to catch up and talk about their respective days apart. Before leaving, Jamie had promised all three girls that he would be back by mid afternoon so that they could get together for an early dinner on the ship.

Juno wasn't sure if she was looking forward to, or dreading, Jamie's return.

"So, tell us again…" Viv said, carefully applying pencil to her left eyebrow. "…how you met Jamie? In a café, I think you said?"

Juno nodded. "Yeah. I was, you know, totally alone and freaking out – you guys had already left and there was no sign of the ship being anywhere. I mean, the whole place was deserted. So I went into this café just to sit down and try to think things through, and that's when I discovered I only had a couple of pounds left over, and having some tea took all of it." Juno closed her eyes as she remembered the feeling of abject horror as she stared down at her empty wallet at the café's counter. "So anyway, I sit down and these old men, who really were very nice, came over to me and were talking and talking and talking to me, and I was just sitting there getting more and more freaked out."

"Were they dirty old men?" Darcy interjected, tugging with precision on her slinky blouse to further expose the tops of her breasts to best advantage.

Juno shook her head no. "No, they weren't dirty old men. I think they were just bored with each other and I was a new face for them to talk to." Juno sighed at the memory of the men swarming around her and talking her ear off. "I was trying not to cry at being totally deserted in a foreign country with no ATM card…"

"God, talk about a nightmare." Darcy said, her voice laced with sympathy. "I think I would have just died right there."

"Or pimped yourself for shoe money." Viv suggested with a playful nudge of her elbow, making Darcy giggle and shrug good naturedly.

"And then Jamie came." Juno finished quietly. "Just sort of got me out of there and told me he could take me to Nairn. And then I realized I'd forgotten my wallet, but when I went back, it was gone. Jamie was totally nice about it and offered to not let me, you know, starve."

"He's fabulous." Viv said with a smile. "He's totally… a gentleman."

"He's a babe." Darcy added with a grin. "And he's single, right?"

Juno nodded, looking away from the mirror glumly. "Yeah, he's single."

"And there's nothing between you two, right?" Viv asked eagerly, as though the answer was obvious. "Just traveling companions, right?"

Juno was dying to say no, absolutely not – they were way more than traveling companions. They were friends, confidants…

Lovers.

But the minute she'd stepped back on board, she knew the fairy tale of the last few days was over. Things between Jamie and Juno were doomed from the start, and it was better to start behaving that way now, rather than wallowing over it later.

No matter how tenderly Jamie had made love to her only a few hours ago. No matter how he still stole her breath when he looked at her sideways. No matter how hard it was not to throw herself into his arms and beg him to let her pack him into her carry on luggage so she could take him home.

Welcome to reality, Juno, she chided herself. Tell them the truth about what you and Jamie are…

Juno shrugged noncommittally. "There isn't anything between us."

Not anymore.

"We're just, you know, friends."

Friends who give each other lightning bolts of electricity every single time we touch.

"He's a good guy."

The best.

"No big deal." Juno concluded, her stomach roiling even as she said the words. She felt like she was betraying Jamie and what they had shared for two days.

Felt like she was betraying every emotion she had even as she told Darcy and Viv that he didn't matter to her.

"Cool." Viv gave her a warm smile in the mirror. "I'm so glad such a nice guy was taking care of you. I can't imagine what would have happened if some skeezy guy had tried to kidnap you or something."

Juno remembered Jamie's vehemence in defending her from the sleaze in the marketplace, her feeling of being totally protected and totally taken care of by that wonderful man.

What would she have done without Jamie the last few days?

"Yeah." Juno said faintly. "Me neither."

"I just can't believe the luck in the end." Darcy said, carefully lining her lips with a pencil and trying to decide between her lipstick color choices. "Wait – should I go for slut red or slut pink?" She asked, holding up both tubes to Viv with a grin.

Viv considered the choices and pointed at the red. "Go for the gusto, girl."

"I mean…" Darcy continued her previous thought as she uncapped her lipstick and waited for Viv to finish lining her eyes so she could face the mirror. "Here you are, running around Scotland with like, the perfect incarnation of Jamie Frasier, while we're stuck here with only the same old boring, 'been there, done that' guys on this tub. I mean, if you'd ended up in a castle at some point, or fighting off rogue clansman, it would have been exactly like the book."

"Except this Jamie doesn't have red hair, like the other Jamie." Viv said as she fluffed her hair with both hands. "Though, really, I think this Jamie is hotter."

"This Jamie is totally hot, yeah." Darcy agreed. "Wonder what he looks like in a kilt."

Juno nearly swallowed her tongue trying not to laugh. She thought she'd been the only one who'd wondered that very thing about Jamie Fulham…

"So anyway. Talk about a stroke of luck for Juno." Viv said.

Juno bit her lip to keep from saying something totally inappropriate, like 'Damn right!' or 'About damn time someone decent looked my way!'. Instead she looked down at the bed cover and slowly began picking at a loose thread, her palms vaguely sweaty as she thought again of Jamie.

Naked Jamie.

Naked Jamie kissing Naked Juno right before he…

She shook her head to rid herself of the images of the hotel room bed and tuned back in on what Viv was saying.

"… anyhow, while you're traipsing around the countryside like Claire and Jamie, we're out to sea, totally seasick and fighting over who gets to go throw up next. The fog was awful, the waves were worse, and we were totally miserable." Viv said with a shudder. "God, I've never been so sick."

"Not since that time we drank that bottle of Jim Beam after finals our junior year." Darcy agreed, making Juno giggle as she remembered that drunken night, following closely by a groan as she remembered the morning after.

"Completely and absolutely sick." Darcy agreed. "Tonight is the first night I haven't been totally green in two days."

"So I guess I got the better end of the deal, huh?" Juno asked with a small smile.

"Totally." Viv agreed. "But now things are all better again. Let's go find Mr. Jamie and knock his socks off. Girls?" She said, snapping her fingers and pulling Juno to her feet. "That guy won't know what hit him!" She said with a flirty grin as she flung open the door for the girls.

Juno couldn't agree more as she watched Darcy and Viv slink out of the room in their three inch stilettos.

He won't have any idea.

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before . after