You asked me to write more hilsfoolishginger, so here it is, a kind of unofficial sequel to Stay With Me. I couldn't think of another island story that didn't involve the mythology, so I thought I'd try one of these future fics everyone seems to love, even though straight drama isn't what I normally write.

I was going to start this story with "They were rescued on a Tuesday, five months, three weeks and two days after they crashed on the island", which I've always thought would make a good opening line to a Lost fan fic, but most of what was in the prologue was rehashed in chapter 1 so I cut it.

I'm not sure I like it as much as my other story, it's definitely less original, but let me know what you all think...

SOLACE

Chapter 1. How?

Sergeant Samuel Austen was just packing up his desk for lunch when he saw what he thought was a ghost. His daughter Katherine (though no one except her mother had ever called her that) was standing on the other side of the room, looking at him uncertainly, as if she were unsure of how he would react to her presence.

Sam glanced at his colleagues to see if they'd noticed her, but if they saw her too they made no sign of it. He wondered vaguely if he was going crazy, if grief had finally pushed him to the edge of his sanity. He was on the brink of dismissing the whole incident when she stepped up to his desk and spoke.

"Hi Daddy", she said, her voice timid and child-like, reminding him of the day three years ago, when she'd come here to say goodbye. That was the last time he saw her, the last time he thought he would ever see her, before the police called to notify him of her apparent death.

"Katie?" he said uncertainly. "I thought… they told me… they said you were… how?"

"You didn't hear?" she began, checking to make sure that no one was listening before going on. She lowered her voice to be sure. "It was all over the news. The plane crashed on an island. We were there for almost six months, until one the girlfriend of one of the men there tracked us down."

Sam dropped back into his chair, his whole body trembling from the shock of seeing her again like this. Her story was nothing he hadn't heard before, but it still didn't explain how. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, then said,

"After the rescue, I went to the docks. The police told me that they hadn't found you, that there was no sign of you on the island, but I wasn't convinced. I knew how clever you could be, so I went and stood with the other families at the harbour, and waited for the ship to come in. I thought I might be able to find someone who knew you, someone who could tell me where you were, or at least, that you were okay.

"I must have spoken to at least ten different people, but they all said the same thing, 'Sorry, never met her'. I even spoke to the doctor, the one everyone said saved you all—" He might have imagined it, but Sam thought he saw the expression change briefly in his daughter's eyes: a flash of fear, followed by relief, then sadness as he described the meeting "—He told me about the fuselage, said a lot of bodies were never found. Yours could have been one of them. I wanted to keep to believing that you were safe, but when I didn't hear from you I… I never thought I'd see you again." He choked on the last words, his eyes brimming with tears.

She had tears in her eyes too now. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I'm sorry they lied to you. I'm sorry for a lot of things."

"Don't be," he said, pulling her into his embrace. He needed to feel how solid she was, how real. "I'm just glad I was wrong." He allowed himself to cry for a moment. He could tell from the way her shoulders were shaking that she was doing the same. When that moment was over he composed himself and pulled away, his voice steady again, his posture rigid and dignified like a soldier's should be, his heart lighter than it had been in years. "The police think you're dead now," he said. "You can start a new life. You didn't have to come here. You could have just called me, you know."

"I know," she said, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand and pulling herself together just as Sam had done. "But I needed to see you. Is there somewhere private we can talk?"