Con-sequences

by Selah25

Elle is the first woman on the island to become pregnant, give birth, and survive. What does that mean for her and what are the consequences of this newfound success? Was Juliet behind it? Who are the rescuers in actuality and why are they really on the island? What is the fate of our beloved Flight 815?

Title: Con-Sequences

Rating: Pg-13

Summary: Season 4- Elle is the first woman on the island to become pregnant, give birth, and survive. What does that mean for her and what are the consequences of this newfound success? Was Juliet behind it? Who are the rescuers in actuality and why are they really on the island? What is the fate of our beloved Flight 815?

Status of Fic: WIP
Author's Notes/Disclaimer: This is my fourth Fan Fic. Please read You Can't Con a Con, To Con-sole and Con-cede, and Con-tractions, to affiliate yourself with my character Elle as she plays a vital role in the lives of the other survivors. Also, read my one-shot, Caught In-between Right and Elle, it will please all you Jack lovers. I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Lost." JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof created them and they belong to them, Touchstone, and ABC. *Although be it, I would love to have a hand in the brilliant story writing* *Just a bit of magic dabbling here and there would be nice*

Chapter 1 *God I'm pregnant, damn the consequences.*Garbage

*Con-tractions ended with Elle laying unconscious as she was about to go into labor on the island. Sun presents her bloodied hands to Jack, wary that Elle may have hemorrhaged as multiple scenarios play out in the background. Locke has just stabbed Naomi in the back, threatened Jack at gun point, demanding him not to call the freighter, but taking the leadership role once again, Jack does what he has to do, to save Elle. He calls the freighter, to save Elle and her unborn child. Rescue, it seems, is on its way. Unbeknownst to Jack, back on the beach, Sawyer has heard Elle going into labor through the walkie talkie and has taken off through the jungle unaware of his surroundings. Sayid and Hurley have chased after him. In the meantime, Elle still remains unconscious and unless Jack revives her, both her life and the life of her unborn child are at risk.*

Elle lay prostrate at the feet of a sickly Sun as she presented her bloodied hands to Jack, questioning him, almost begging him, pleading for him, and mouthing silent prayers for answers that he was unable to deliver. Disarming the walkie talkie from his waistband to give himself more leverage, he inched closer to examine Elle. Lifting her eyelids, he shouted to Kate to look into his backpack for a flashlight. Kate, rushing over, handed him one, which he then proceeded to flicker on and off onto each of her eyes to see if they dilated. Fortunately, they did.

"She's responsive," he sighed with relief, as he checked her pulse, "pulse is steady too."

"But all this blood," Sun managed to find her voice, "the women on this island Jack-"

Jack cut her off with a strict finger to her face, "Not her, Sun," he tore the seams of her jeans up the middle and exposed her to get a better view and then gently began to examine her and smiled as he drew back his hand. Sun, quickly threw over a small blanket she had in her knapsack to keep the onlookers from gawking at Elle's raw and exposed moment.

"The baby's crowning," he pointed to Claire, "think you could slap her for good time's sake?"

Claire semi smiled as she recalled the dreaded day Jack brought Elle back from getting shot in the hatch. Unresponsive then, Claire did the only thing she could think of to revive her friend; slap her, not once, but twice. She recalled how despite the pain Elle was in, she mustered the ever sardonic 'Don't even think about it' before Claire could lay her small hands upon her flustered cheek once more. Claire was ready. However, instead of violently smacking her unconscious and ever pregnant friend, she straddled Elle from behind, resting Elle into her chest and began to sing.

"Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket

Never let it fade away

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket

Save it for a rainy day"

As Claire began to sing, Elle suddenly began to come round, her eyes began to flicker open, only for moments at a time, and Jack sensed an increase in her pulse. Urging Claire to keep singing he made sure that the baby wasn't in any distress and they waited for the inevitable. Claire picked up where she left off. Tears swelled in her eyes as she sang, and coos could be heard from Aaron as Rose rocked him far off as the rest of the others watched in anticipation. Claire swept moist ringlets off Elle's forehead as she continued to sing.

"For love may come and tap you on the shoulder

Some starless night

Just in case you feel you wanna hold her

You'll have a pocketful of starlight"

A warm breeze rushed over them as Elle inhaled deeply and arched her back, gripping her thighs with her hands, she exhaled and the first person she saw was Jack. Relief washed over the crowd, but more so, it seemed to take Jack all he had to muster up the strength to not cave over. Realizing she must have had passed out from the contractions, Elle went into a state of panic and it was evident on her face that Jack needed to calm her down. Without the availability of anything medicinal, he urged her to think happy thoughts, and without knowing why or how, she muttered something about a pocket of starlight. Claire smiled to herself, knowing Elle must have heard her singing. The time came for her to push. But not before a voice came over the walkie talkie. It was Hurley.

"Jack," he breathed into the walkie, "you there dude?"

"My comic relief," Elle sighed, "right on time."

"Beach to Jack, come in Jack. Beach to Jack…."

Rolling his eyes as if to say this could not have come at a worse time, he picked up the walkie and answered.

"Right here Hurley, what's up?"

"Hey, um, yeah, well, we, uh, kinda heard some crazy stuff comin' over the walkie thing and Sawyer was makin' his way towards the tower…"

"Tell him to wait at the beach, Hurley," Jack urged him, "he'll never make it here in time."

"Damn it, Doc," a gruff voice came over the walkie, "what in the hell's goin' on ova' there?"

"Elle's gone into labor, Sawyer," Jack didn't want to waste time; he had to get back to her.

"Jack," Sawyer's voice came out pleadingly, soft, foreign to Jack's ears, "I can't lose 'em."

Wanting to secretly admonish him for leaving Elle in the first place, Jack bit back his bitter words and substituted them with a more professional tone.

"Then let me get back to her, Sawyer," Jack replied, "let me do my job."

"Wait on the beach, the freighter's on its way."

With a cocky wink to a solemn looking Ben, who remained tied and beaten to a tree, Jack threw in a sly remark that once Elle delivered her baby, they would all convene back at the beach where they would finally meet their rescue. With that, Jack heard Hurley whoop with excitement as he headed back to Elle whose eyes pleaded with Jack. She had heard Sawyer. However, she needed to hear it from Jack.

"He's fighting to stay in, Jack," she gnashed her teeth, "it's like he knows what he is being born into," she winced as another contraction hit, this time, harder and more painful. He instructed her that on his count, she was going to have to push, short, yet hard, three times, for this baby to come out. With the strain she had been put under, the exacerbated rate of her pregnancy, who knew what risks she and her child will be at once it was over. If Juliet's predictions and tests were right, Elle would survive, but no matter how much Jack wanted to trust Juliet, he had his doubts.

"You can do this, Elle," Jack coached her, but his eyes were misty, something a doctor should never reveal; attachment, an emotional and unprecedented connection.

"Question is, Doc," she found her long lost cynicism, "can you?"

"This baby's coming out, whether it wants to or not, so on my count, you're going to give me what I want, when I want it…"

"Pinch me, but I think I've heard that before," she managed a wink, that no one saw, but Jack alone, and his body quaked at the memories of their one night stand. His take charge attitude and direction that night was something feral, something unorthodox, something unnatural, something, so, Elle. Claire and Sun both exchanged tense glances as verbal banter shot between both Elle and Jack. Kate looked suspiciously onward as Jack's next words seem to bite at the thickness in the air.

"And I won't let you manipulate me into not delivering this child of yours, so quit being such a hard ass and push," Jack looked at her with his stone black eyes and cradled his hands beneath her legs, "Now!"

With a deep breath, Elle mustered all she could and let out an excruciated moan, that resembled something between a primitive grr and argh, as Claire held her shoulders, bracing her with all her petite strength. Jack, nodding and calling for Sun to assist, told Elle she was doing a great job and needed to push again. Kate, already having the first hand experience of assisting in the delivery of Aaron, she had a damp cloth ready to wipe away the perspiration that was coating Elle's forehead with every grunt and thrust of her pelvis. Jack instructed Sun, that while Elle pushed for the second time, he was going to need her to have a blanket ready to catch that baby, because Elle's first push was more than enough to produce both head and shoulders.

"Okay Elle," Jack looked up to a flushed and defeated Elle, "this is it, one more push."

"He should be here for this," tears were visibly falling from her eyes; however Kate and the others were unsure if it they were from the labor or from missing Sawyer.

"You'll see him soon," Claire reassured her, "and baby will make three."

"Yes," Sun chimed in, "you must push, Elizabeth, the baby is ready."

"But what if…," Elle bit her lip and stifled her words with a deep and ethereal moan and pushed with all the strength she had left in her weakened body, a small baby boy, who let out a cry of hope that could be heard through the stillness in the air that hopeful and chary night.

Sun wrapped the tiny baby in a small tattered blanket and wiped away the post birth from his dimpled cheeks and prepared to hand him off to Elle but was taken back when Elle let out another mind shattering scream. Jack tended to her and did a double take as he looked up from her most private and sacred area to her beautiful and frightened face.

"You're not going to believe this," he managed to get out, "but you're going to have to push again."

Chapter 2 *The consequences of freedom, but now you have what you dreamed, just understand that things are not as they seem.*Take That

"Push what again, Jack?" Elle spat as she looked towards the bundle of chubby flesh that Sun held ever so gently in her arms. Elle's loins ached to have her child near her bosom; it was her motherly right. Why wasn't Sun offering him to her? She wanted to scream, but her insides appeared to be lurching and screaming for her.

"It appears there's someone else trailing behind," Jack smirked, "I can see the head."

"Juliet never said anything about another baby Jack," Elle gritted her teeth, her mind swirling, with what she would do if this had anything to do with those experiments, if her children, were lab rats. What if something was wrong with them? What if once they took their first breaths, those would be their last? Elle couldn't handle those thoughts. Momentarily, she felt lightheaded, she couldn't lose another child, no, she wouldn't give up another child, not to the likes of Them, it was her second chance, to right the wrongs, so she overcame her lapse in judgment with nerve, or what Sawyer would call it, 'balls o'steel', and pushed again. To her left, Ben looked on, beneath swollen and bloodied eyes, as Elle pushed out another child, yes, another child, who survived; who breathed in the island air, tiny swallows at a time, and cried for its mother, a mother, who also survived. Ben smirked, his callous chafed lips, knowing Juliet had chosen the right specimen after all, no matter the betrayal.

Wrapping the infant in a t-shirt, who was smaller than the first, almost runt like, with the darkest eyes and palest skin, a tiny wisp of curl atop his head, and as Jack took in the fare sight of the child, his heart skipped a beat, grateful that they had all survived, and regretting that he may never get the chance to have a family of his own, he handed over the little child to Elle, as Sun handed off her first born. Elle looked down at her two sons and for the first time that bleak dusk laden night, she smiled that beautiful smile of hers.

XXX

Back on the beach, after Hurley and Sawyer were told that Elle had gone into labor and to remain there for their own safety and for the freighter, the rest of those remaining began to clear up the debris from the war that had ensued. Sayid and Juliet had taken charge of the dead bodies and given them a proper, yet coarse burial. Rugged rags to cover their burned, twisted, and ashened bodies. Hurley approached Bernard who was looking out across the cerulean waters and smiled.

"Elle just went into labor, dude."

"Well, hmm," Bernard smiled, "how's Sawyer handlin' it?"

"How he usually handles things," Hurley looked over his shoulder, "he's havin' himself a beer."

They shared themselves a laugh and then Hurley mentioned to Bernard that of all the days he had spent on the island looking out at the ocean, he had always wanted to do a cannonball. Everyday, he would walk up and down the beach, everyday, he told Bernard, and he never did.

"Hurley." Bernard placed a fatherly hand on his shoulder, "You wanna do a cannonball? Cannonball."

Hurley, ran off towards the edge of the sandy dunes, laughing, childlike, his mop of curls flowing back off his face as he cradled his legs and plunged into the chilling, yet, uplifting waters. As he rose to the surface, his once present and contagious smile, fades as the water wipes it off his face. He sees the others helping Desmond pull the canoe onto the shore. Desmond appeared withdrawn and fatigued. Distraught and despondent at best.

"Are you alright Desmond?" Sayid was the first to speak.

"We need to get to Jack." Desmond's mind was on a one way track. "We can't let him get in contact with that boat."

"Easy, Scottie," Sawyer quipped, "everything's cool, ma' girl's havin' a baby, the boat's on the way."

"What?" Desmond's jaw dropped, "Elle's gone into labor…no, no," he shook his head, "never mind that, those people, that woman, Naomi, she lied!"

Hurley, the only one who appeared to have noticed that Desmond had arrived alone, stepped forward and pushed through the mindless chatter and demanded,

"Hey where's Charlie!"

"What do you mean, 'she lied'," Juliet inquired, skimming over Hurley's interjection.

"Then who are they?" Sawyer with his hands on his hips stood with his feet firmly in the sand, his brows furrowed with concern.

"Desmond, where's Charlie?"

"I don't know brotha, but we need to get in touch with Jack, right now."

"Alright, Desmond," Juliet assured him, "we have a walkie talkie, we'll call him."

Hurley hollered with all his might, "Where's Charlie?!"

Everyone stopped in their steps. Standing around the canoe, they seemed to be taken aback for a moment, scanning the beach, waiting for Charlie to appear; perhaps he was resting in the canoe or had been standing there the whole time, tired from his heroic trek to the Looking Glass. Desmond, forlorn, hung his head low, and beneath his shaggy, damp hair, apologized.

"I'm…I'm sorry brotha…I…"

They all came to the realization the Charlie had passed away. Moments of silence seemed to pass slowly, as time stood still, faces appeared to droop, as in Edward Munch's Scream, saddened eyes, melted smiles, frightened, silent screams. Sawyer was the first to speak and his suggestion had even Sayid surprised.

"We better call the Doc."

"Did you not listen to Desmond," Sayid chided him, "Charlie wrote on his hand."

"Look, I'm sorry he's dead, I am," he looked over to Hurley, "but I don't even know what the hell 'Not Penny's boat' means."

"Calling Jack accomplishes nothing," Sayid remained steadfast in his decision not to warn Jack just yet.

Juliet disagreed, "It would accomplish warning him."

"It also means warning the people on the freighter that we're suspicious of them. I've no doubt they've been monitoring our communications, if we call Jack…"

Sawyer, aggravated that nobody was coming to terms with the information at hand, decided to take matters into his own. For one, Elle had gone into labor, and if for whatever reason, the people coming to rescue them, were nothing more than a heightened and inferior group of masterminds than Ben and his followers, he had to get to Elle and his child. He grabbed the walkie talkie from his waistband and held it above his head.

"You know what?" They all looked at him, stunned that he had taken a stance.

"I've got the walkie and I'm makin' the call."

"Hey!" Sawyer reeled back as Hurley grabbed the walkie out of his hand and threw it into the ocean. Walking away from the crowd, he spoke, bitterness ate at his words.

"We better get going."

As the group divvied up the guns, Sawyer caught up with Hurley and questioned his motives.

"What's gotten into you, Hugo?" He spun him around and was face to face with Hurley. Sawyer could see the sadness emit from his eyes. Sawyer had seen that before. It was what drew him to Elle that first night on the beach. "They'll all be back in the mornin', if you just wait."

"You don't wait with warnings, dude," Hurley told Sawyer, "you warn."

Sawyer swung an automatic rifle across his back and smirked, "Here I thought I was going to get a good night's sleep."

XXX

Claire shifted Elle's weight and propped her against a tree while her two boys slept soundly in the nooks of her arms. As Claire and Sun began to pack up their belongings, Elle called over to Claire and then bit her lip, afraid to wake the two brothers.

"Claire," she looked over to the two women, "do you think you could find me something to wear?"

"Oh gosh," Claire blushed, "Jack really did a job on those jeans, didn't he?"

"I'll check your knapsack."

Rose made her way over and knelt down near Elle and took in the wondrous sight of the two sleeping infants and the radiating glow of their mother. She made the sign of the cross and said a silent prayer and then gave Elle a kiss on the forehead and wished her and the boys the best. Elle thanked her and watched as Rose headed over to Claire and Sun. She overheard their chit chat.

"I can't believe I'm going to have my baby in a hospital," Sun gleamed.

"Oh, rub it in, why don't you!" Claire playfully pushed her, while she smiled over at Elle.

"Although, we've got our little miracles over there, don't we?"

"Yes," Rose, agreed, "miracles indeed."

"Or something else," Elle muttered under her breath, as she watched her two boys sleep. Although they were twins, she noticed they looked nothing alike. While her first born, had Sawyer's dimples and his deep green eyes, the latter had paler skin and dark eyes and wisps of auburn hair. Fraternal, she thought to herself. It's been known to happen.

"Do you ladies need a hand?" Rose offered.

"Actually, yes, please," Claire looked up towards Rose, "would you mind looking into Elle's bag for another pair of pants?"

"Sure thing."

"You must be proud of Bernard," Claire gushed, "I hear he's quite the hero."

"But everyone up here knows the real hero is your man, Claire. If Charlie didn't turn off that gizmo, we'd still be getting that busy signal on that fancy phone. So you better treat him real good when he gets home." She winked as she walked off to get Elle a new pair of jeans.

Jack washed his hands off with some water from a bottle he had stashed away in his pack, and was leaning up against a tree, when Kate approached him from behind. She placed a hand on the small of his back and leant her chin on his shoulder.

"Hey," she whispered, "you did good over there."

"Did you see them," he questioned her, "they're alive and well, all three of them."

"Ben and his lies," he scowled as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "I trusted her."

"Juliet," her name bitterly leaked from Kate's lips as Jack nodded his head.

"Jack," Kate hated to admit it, of all the Others, Juliet was not one of her favorites, but why would she lie about all those women?

"I know," Jack agreed, "but they have their motives, of that I am positive."

At that moment, the phone rang and Kate looked anxiously at Jack, and told him to answer it.

"That'd be our ride."

Answering the phone, Jack greeted Minkowski, who alerted him that they couldn't get a lock on their location due to some interference. If Jack put Naomi on the phone, she'd be sure to fix it in no time. Jack, in the midst of Elle's delivery, forgot that Naomi had been knifed in the back by Locke and lay face down on the jungle floor.

"Naomi went to get some firewood," Jack lied, looking around, he then realized that Naomi's body was nowhere to be found. He looked and saw Ben smiling mischievously and hung up on Minkowski. Storming over to Ben, he got down on his knees and demanded,

"Where is she?"

Ben, smiled, and murmured, "I don't know."

Jack decided to separate the groups and go out to look for Naomi with the assistance of Rousseau and take Ben along for the trek. Kate agreed to lead the rest back to the beach. But before he left, he made sure Elle was prepared and well enough to make the journey after her delivery. Rose had assisted Elle into her new jeans after doing her best to clean up the after birth. Claire gave her a granola bar to eat and some water to drink and Sun and Rose were busy rocking the babies as they gurgled and sucked their fingers.

"Do you think you can make it back to the beach?"

"What do you think," Elle cocked her head to the side and winked, "I just gave birth, to not one, but two gorgeous boys and we're alive."

"I'm going to make it to that beach and I'm going to shove my foot so far up Juliet's ass she's going to wish she never crossed my path!"

"So…," Jack smiled, at the familiarity in Elle's voice, "that a yes?"

Chapter 3 *There's consequences I'm scared to taste, cold hard truths I can't face, these days are different than the past, reflections change in the looking glass.*Elton John

While Sun and Claire manufactured a dual cloth sling for Elle to carry the twins in, Elle steadied herself on her feet and sipped slowly on some water. Rose stood motherly at her side and gazed at Elle as she looked down on her first born as Rose cradled Elle's other son whose deep brown eyes seemed to turn towards Elle's voice when she answered Rose's question.

"Have you thought of any names?"

"I was having trouble with one," Elle let out a small laugh, "if you can only imagine what I must be thinkin' now."

"Whatever you choose," Rose nodded, "they'll be perfect, nonetheless."

"Thank you, Rose," Elle smiled, "for everything, this must have been very traumatic for you all."

"A blessing amongst the ruins, my dear," Rose gleamed, "twice over."

"All set," Claire offered the slings to Elle and as the women carefully placed each child into the soft fabric, they tied them across Elle's back and each boy was nestled near her chest.

"No room for Sawyer," Elle laughed, as she noticed how nuzzled each child was to her breast.

"Believe me, child," Rose tilted her head and with a gleam in her eye, "he'll make room."

"Rose!" Claire gushed.

The women shared a laugh and as Jack walked over to double check on Elle and the babies before he set off, they shared a moment. Perhaps it was too long, for Kate noticed, but after all, Jack and Elle were friends, he did deliver her children, and they were getting off the island. But the look in their eyes, said something else that Kate couldn't place a finger on in that moment. Elle cleared her throat, aware that they were staring at one another for too long.

"I don't know what to say," she lowered her eyes, regretting that night she allowed herself to manipulate him, to take advantage of him.

"Moments like this," Jack offered pointing to the ground, "erase moments like those," he waved his hand, indicating the past.

"Let's get you and your boys to Sawyer and get the hell off this island," Jack tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"What do you say?"

Elle watched as Jack and Kate shared a tender moment, hugging goodbye, right before, he took Ben, a beaten and shameful dog on a rope like leash, led by Rousseau to search for the ailing Naomi. Kate was in charge of leading the rest of them back to the beach. But Elle noticed that while Kate leant in for the hug, she reached into Jack's pocket and retrieved something. Kate turned to her and the others and began to lead them out, when Elle pulled her aside.

"You're going to follow the other trail aren't you?"

"Nothing gets by you," Kate shook her head in amazement, "does it?"

"I may have just mass produced on this godforsaken island, but slight of hand is one of the oldest tricks in the book, Kate."

"Plus, I overheard you mention something about a dummy trail."

Smiling down at the twins, Kate chuckled. "They sure look nothing alike, those two."

Just then, one of them burped and his cheeks dimpled. His brother, almost ashamed, playfully swatted at the air. Kate and Elle shared a laugh.

"But he's definitely Sawyer," Kate pointed, "and that one there, is definitely you."

"Why me," Elle furrowed her brow, in question.

"Already putting him in his place."

"Yeah, yeah," Elle rolled her eyes, "like mother like son," she turned her head.

"Be safe out there," she looked towards the horizon, "we'll make it to the fuselage."

As the skies began to darken, Elle and the others began to make way towards the beach, slowly, but surely, the terrain was manageable for the women. Alex proved to be quite resourceful, leading the way towards their base camp, reminding Elle of a younger Kate. It was eerily familiar watching this young woman, who was just reunited with her long lost mother, and tugged at Elle's heart, for she longed to know her birth mother. Whispering to her sleeping infants, she promised them, that she'd never leave them, that they'd always have their parents; no matter the consequences. Wherever fate leads them, she will provide them with a home. She'd be damned if that was taken from them. Pushing through the jungle mass, they came face to face with their friends, guns raised at the ready, but quickly lowered when they realized they were no threat. Sun was the first to speak and rush over to Jin. Her Korean was melodic as she hugged her husband, grateful that he was alive. Claire scanned the crowd, unable to find Charlie. Rose was the next to spot her husband and her smile brightened her face.

"Still in one piece," he whispered into her ear, as she hugged her husband tightly.

"Rambo," she kissed him, shaking her head in amazement, as she brushed at a bruise on his forehead.

As Juliet and Alex even share a memorable embrace, Sawyer emerged from the crowd, looking for Elle. Rounding the corner, of an old, ashen tree, he spotted her. He'd know those eyes anywhere. As she walked closer, Sawyer too slowly walked towards her, anxiously awaiting to see his child. Relieved was an understatement, but his heart was beating too fast for anything else to materialize. All the while as they were making their way from the beach, bearing the weight of Charlie's death in their hearts and on their shoulders, Sawyer was silently praying that Elle hadn't suffered the same fate of the women on the island that Juliet had been sent to heal. Juliet turned as Alex whispered something in her ear and pointed towards the reunion of Elle and Sawyer and watched as they joined in an embrace. Her face was pure satisfaction; she had done it, she had found the cure. Sawyer took Elle's chin into his hands and kissed her full heartedly on the mouth, apologizing repeatedly for leaving her, promising her, he'd never leave again.

"Just shut up and take a look at 'em", she whispered.

"A boy?" Sawyer's green eyes glowed like sea glass after a lightening storm.

"Look again," Elle took a step back and presented both boys.

"What in Sam Hill?" Sawyer's jaw dropped and ran his hands through his hair. Then he took everyone by surprise and jumped up and down and Elle was pretty sure he yee hawed and kissed her all over again. Calm down there Cowboy, you don't want to wake them up, she told him. But it was too late, at the sound of Sawyer's voice, both boys gurgled and cooed, their balled up fists stretched out grabbing at nothingness, until Sawyer put out both his pinky fingers and both boys grabbed on tightly.

"Strong like bull," Sawyer grunted, to which Elle laughed and coughed a muffled, "sh*t".

"Hey," he kissed her nose, "I heard that."

"Sam," Elle scrunched her nose, "how about we call dimples over here, Sammy?"

"I like it," Sawyer winked, "do I get the credit?"

"He's got your dimples, isn't that enough?" She quipped.

"What about him," Sawyer played with the wisps of black hair on his other son's head, "do you have a name for him?"

"Well I'll tell you one thing about this little guy," Elle laughed, "he's a spit fire alright."

"We ain't namin' the kid Spit Fire, Elle, no way, no hell," Sawyer stared her down, but before she could tell him her idea for a name, they noticed Hurley walking over to Claire. Elle looked to Sawyer and he dropped his eyes and wrapped his arms around her body taking his family into his arms. Whispering into her ear, she tried to block it out, but no matter how hard she tried, the words crept into her soul.

"It ain't good news, ain't good at all."

Elle watched on as Hurley, tears streaming down his face, said something to Desmond, who in turn, walked away, and turned from the crowd. Hurley walked over to Claire and Aaron and Elle didn't want to watch, but what else could she do. Claire too, stood there, tiny and vulnerable, knowing why Hurley was crying, but not willing to accept it. She stood there, defiantly.

"He's dead. Charlie's dead." He embraced her as his tears ran down her shirt as Claire, stunned, stammered a simple, "No." They both embraced and cried as the rest of the survivors surmised that Charlie was really gone. Elle turns to look at Sawyer and glances over her shoulder and sees that Locke has returned.

"What's he doing here, James?" she inched closer into his body, wary of Locke's intentions.

"Hurley found him in the jungle," Sawyer shrugged, "seems he's not too keen on the rescue."

At that moment, Rousseau arrived, tugging tightly onto Ben's leash and as Locke turned at the rustle of footsteps approaching, he was on the receiving end of Jack's right hook. The others watched in stupor as Locke wrestles feverishly for his gun in the waistband of his khakis but Jack retrieves it with finesse and holds it steadily in Locke's face. Cocking it, he stared Locked into the eyes. Silence was all around.

"Jack." Juliet warned, yet Jack didn't take his eyes off Locke for a second.

Timidly, yet strangely confident, Locke told Jack that he wasn't going to shoot him.

"Anymore than I was gonna shoot…" but Jack pulled the trigger, a bullet-less echo ricocheted off the dense air. Realizing that it wasn't loaded, Jack began to beat on Locke with all his fury. Watching Locke receive a few blows to the face, Elle felt he deserved, she then nudged Sawyer.

"Well, since it wasn't loaded," she whispered, "how about you get Jack off him?"

Sighing, as he usually did, when he was one of the ones to most likely be either pulling one of the men off another or on the receiving end of the fighting, he and Sayid both rushed over to Jack and pulled him away from Locke.

"Come on, Doc."

"Let go of me," Jack fought off Sayid and Sawyer, "do you know what he did?"

"Yes!" Sayid shouted, "I know what he did!"

Brushing himself off, Locke looked at everyone and stated with conviction that all he ever done was for the good of the group.

"It was always in the best interest for all of us," he told them, "whatever I have done."

Jack's eyes widened, "Are you insane?"

"Look," Locke expanded his words and extended his hands graciously out towards the rest of the crowd, "I know I have a lot of explaining to do. But, I never did anything to hurt any of you."

"Hmph," Elle coughed, but caught Sawyer's eyes, and lowered her glance and rocked her babies. Locke hurt Sawyer, of that she was sure. Whatever happened that night in the jungle, had transformed her lover into someone monstrous, someone who abandoned her and their unborn, and for that, she saw Locke as a liar. Then again, who on this island, wasn't?

"I even risked my life to warn you that there was a traitor in our midst," he pointed to Juliet.

"She helped us, John," Jack growled, "all you ever did was blow up every chance we had to get off this damn island."

"He has a point, Jack," Elle interjected, "we still don't know her intentions." She motioned to Sammy and his brother. "It's quite obvious I was on that list for a reason."

"Elle," Juliet began, but was silenced by Elle's eyes.

"You'll have your chance to explain," Elle smirked, "but he's got the limelight now," she pointed to Locke.

"You killed Naomi, Locke."

"Well…," Ben sardonically sneered, "technically he didn't kill her, yet."

Just then, Kate emerged from the jungle, obviously she had been running for quite a while, her singlet was sullied and sweaty, her hair, sodden from the rain. She nodded to Jack.

"Yes, he did," she caught her breath, "she just died. She didn't give you up, John. She covered for us, and she fixed this." She tossed the satellite phone to Jack.

"They're on their way."

Locke stood his ground. Elle was sure if he had a soap box he would have stood atop it with authority, but luckily enough, there wasn't one around.

"She didn't cover for anyone. She wants her people to come here." He looked to the others, watching their faces for any sign of life, agreement, or worry. All he saw was fear. So he continued.

"I'm going to the Barracks. The Others abandoned them. It's the only place on the Island with any form of security right now; it'll have to do until I can think of something else. Until then, if you wanna live, you need to come with me."

"Wow," Elle raised an eyebrow, "that was something."

"I'd say," Sawyer took her hand, "no live together, die alone, references."

"No one is going to go anywhere with you, Locke, because they're not crazy."

But the unexpected happened. Hurley unwrapped himself from Claire and stepped forward. Elle nudged Sawyer again and Sawyer squeezed her hand.

"Aww, shucks," he sighed, "Hugo what are you doin'?"

"He's not crazy, Jack." Jack turned, shocked that Hurley was speaking against him, more so, taking the side of Locke.

"What about Charlie? He went down to that place so we could all be rescued. And whatever he did, well, guess what? It worked! But then something…" his voice cracked but Claire stepped forward and grabbed his hand, so he continued.

"Something must have happened…he must have heard something before he…I don't know why, but he changed his mind."

Elle was amazed at Hurley's words. It was the first time she had heard him speak with so much heart. Tears were forming at her eyes. She was watching Claire and she too was silently crying as Hurley was speaking. Elle's heart ached. She couldn't imagine what Claire was feeling.

"The last thing he did was warn us that the people on that boat are not who they said they were. So I'm not listening to you." He looked up at Jack. "I'm listening to my friend."

Hurley walked over to Locke. "I'm listening to Charlie."

Jack aspirated as Locke asked if anyone else wants to join. "There isn't much time."

Elle watched as Claire too joined Hurley and Locke and Ben of all people, smugly asked Jack for his permission to join. Alex, Karl, and Rousseau also joined Locke.

Elle squeezed Sawyer's hand and he looked into her dark eyes. Looking for an answer, he found it. For sure, he thought she'd want to stay with Jack, after giving birth, in case anything went wrong, but that look she gave him, was one of survival. They made their move towards Locke and Kate pulled onto Elle's elbow.

"What are you doing?"

"What I have to, Kate," she furrowed her brow, "survivin'."

"Elle," a somber Jack called after her as hard rains began to fall and her nameless son began to cry.

"We'll be fine, Jack," she promised, and then looked back to Juliet, "and I'll be back for you."

"Elizabeth," Sayid walked over to her and opened his knapsack and pulled out a handgun, "I have nothing to offer your children, but for your safety," he shot a glance towards Locke, "take this."

"Blessed journey, my friend," he kissed her hand, she thanked him, and Sawyer called after her.

"Hey'a Brownie Bits, you have a change of heart?"

"No, but if this rain doesn't stop soon, I'm going to." He pulled out a blanket from her knapsack and held it canopy like over her head to protect their babies and they followed Locke towards the Barracks.

"So," Sawyer nuzzled her neck with a kiss, "you never told me, Spit Fire's name?"

Smiling, Elle turned to kiss Sawyer's watery lips. "Aidan."

"Spit Fire it is," he joked.

Chapter 4 *Ignoring sound advice, and any thought of consequence, my bones are shattered, my pride is shattered, and in the midst of this self-inflicted pain, I can see my beautiful rescue.*This Providence

They trudged through the jungle towards the Barracks for what seemed like hours, as the torrential rains poured down, drowning their souls, sullying their spirits, and tiring their bones. Sawyer did his best to keep Elle and their boys dry, but with every turn they took, the winds blew the hard rain into their exhausted faces. Claire hadn't spoken much after hearing about Charlie's death and Elle hadn't found the courage to ask her the senseless and empty question she would hear countless times; "How are you?" So she did what she was best at; she sat by her side, and allowed Claire to rest her head on her shoulder while she and Aaron rested after the long walk. Finding shelter under a canopy of trees, Elle and Claire nestled against one another while Elle unbuttoned her shirt and lowered Sammy to her breast. Her movement woke Claire up and she apologized.

"How long was I out?" Yawned Claire, to which Elle responded, a few hours. It was a new day, despite the ongoing rain.

Elle, uneasy at feeding, did her best, nursing Sammy, while Sawyer coddled Aidan, who sucked on his knuckle. Sawyer had his eyes on Locke who was standing out about ten feet ahead of them, in the pouring rain, his arms and face, raised to the clouds. Elle adjusted Sammy and turned toward Sawyer.

"What the hell's he doing?"

"Hell if I know," Sawyer eyed her exposed breast and paused, "praying they don't revoke his Area 51 clearance?"

"Here," she removed Sammy, "let's trade off," she handed him towards Sawyer.

"Hey there dimples," Sawyer cradled him into the crook of his arm as he sidled Aidan over to Elle for his feeding. Elle switched Aidan to the opposite breast and as she got situated she let out a whimper.

"Sonofa…," she pulled Aidan off.

"What'sa matter?" Sawyer sounded worried as he attempted to burp Sammy without any luck.

"Just hurt me," she shook it off, "the little spit fire."

Overhearing her trouble, Claire told her that sometimes, it helped to rub the small of their backs when attempting to breast feed. It calms them and eases them into making the feeding more suitable for both the mother and child. Taking Claire's advice into accord, Elle found that it worked. Aidan, drank deep and hard from his mother's breast, and never took his eyes off her. Time passed and as the rain continued to pour down, Hurley meandered his way out towards Locke and due to the distance and the bellowing of the rain; Elle wasn't able to make out what was said. But to her surprise and the shock of everyone else, the rains just shut off and the skies opened up and they were warmed by the welcoming sun. Turning to face the miserable group gathered under the trees, Locke wiped his bald head and smiled.

"Let's go."

As they began to pack up their belongings, Rousseau led Ben, while Karl and Alex, trailed behind, Claire and Aaron, along with Elle and Sawyer kept ahead with Locke. Elle nudged Sawyer as she noticed that the sun was ahead of them. The Barracks were in the southern area of the island. Locke was leading them somewhere and he didn't think anyone would pick up on it.

"Hey John," Elle called out, "hate to step on your toes, but why are we headin' East when we should be goin' South to the Barracks?"

"Because, Elizabeth," Locke seemed perturbed, "we have to make a little detour first."

"Detour to what?" Sawyer shifted Sammy and gave Elle a concerned look.

"There's a cabin I have to go to."

Pointing over Locke's head, Hurley mentioned something about a cabin being back in the direction they had just traveled in. Locke turned towards Hurley and questioned him. Elle noticed that both Locke and Ben appeared to be stunned that Hurley had mentioned seeing a cabin. All those months on the island, she had never come across a cabin.

"What'd you say Hugo?"

"I…er…thought you meant the airplane cabin." Hurley stammered. Elle wasn't positive, but the menacing stares that both Locke and Ben were giving Hurley weren't sitting right with her. Pulling Sawyer closer to her, she mouthed into his ear.

"Something isn't right here James."

"When isn't it, darlin'?" Sawyer directed his next question to Locke.

"Why we wastin' our time goin' to some damn shack anyways?"

"Because we're supposed to."

"Right," Elle snickered, "like you were supposed to throw that knife into Naomi's back?"

"Like I wasn't supposed to survive this pregnancy?"

"Ah, huh." Locke nodded matter of factly.

"You mind tellin' us who you're getting' your orders from, Colonel Kurtz?" Sawyer threw a sarcastic slap towards Locke.

"I got 'em from Walt."

Claire looked to Elle who must have looked just as confused as she did because Claire's mouth opened and closed twice over.

"Did he just say, Walt?"

"I think he's gone off the reservation," Elle shook her head and Aidan gurgled, which caused both women to laugh.

"Heard that," Locke turned and gave Elle a disapproving look, "we keep moving."

Rolling her eyes, as she was known to do, when a parental figure, reprimanded her for something so asinine as what she had done, she jiggled Aidan, kissed his forehead, and followed Sawyer and Sammy and the rest of the islanders as they followed their ever confusing leader through the jungle to find the mysterious cabin that held all the answers.

"The natives are getting restless," Ben whispered to Rousseau, who looked at her fellow companions. Their faces were wrought with exhaustion, but what amazed her was how quickly Elle had managed to overcome her delivery so well. She thought back to her delivery of Alex and how painful it was. But then again, the island did work in mysterious ways. After looking at the others, Rousseau smiled gently at her own daughter, and then quickly elbowed Ben in the face.

"Keep your mouth shut and your feet moving."

Before he left Elle's side, he made sure she was okay handling Aidan before he sauntered up to Locke and questioned him about seeing Walt.

"What the hell do you mean you saw Walt? Like in a dream?"

"No dream, it was Walt. Only, taller."

"Taller? Like a giant?" Locke stopped in his tracks and turned to face Sawyer and cocked his head to the side as if to say, don't test me.

"Geeze," Sawyer's hair fell into his eyes, "ok, what exactly did Walt tell you?

"Told me I had work to do," Locke told everyone, "that I had to stop Naomi from bringing her people here."

"You didn't think to ask anything of more value," Elle walked up to Locke.

"Ben shot me and left me for dead," Locke deadpanned, "Walt saved my life."

"So, no, Elizabeth," Locke smiled for the first time, "I just took him on his word."

"You're saying he shot you?" Sawyer's eyebrows rose in disbelief, "Yet here you stand fitter than a fiddle ready to deal with the Devil himself."

Locke then lifted his shirt to reveal a healing bullet wound, which Elle knew to be a through and through. Pointing to his torso, Locke's voice wavered.

"Bullet went in one side," he turned his back to Sawyer, "came out the other."

"I'd probably be dead if I still had a kidney there. Anything else, James?"

"Well, I'll be damned," Sawyer looked at Elle, "who knew nuts could walk."

XXX

Back at the beach, Sayid had one knee nestled into the sand as he rested his bronzed hand under his chin as he gazed out towards the ocean. Juliet approached with her two duffel bags and started to pack up the rest of the rifles. Sayid casually nodded her way, but didn't attempt to assist.

"Jack still isn't back. Any sign?" she attempted to make conversation.

"No." He finally made eye contact, "But it's a big island, the freighter could be approaching from the other side."

"That's the spirit," Juliet gave him a soft smile, but it disappeared at his next request.

"Juliet," Sayid's somber, truth revealing, and inquisitive voice, piqued her interest.

"You lived amongst the Others, why would Ben say the people coming here intend to do us harm?"

"Because," Juliet replied, "he's a liar and he's trying to scare us, that's what he does."

Sayid appeared to take this into consideration and there seemed to be a lull in their conversation. Juliet picked up on it right away.

"What is it you want to ask me, Sayid," she prodded, "because now's your chance, Jack's not here to protect me."

"While I have witnessed first hand your ability to defend yourself, Juliet," Sayid softly let down his guard; he just as quickly turned to stone.

"You say Ben is a liar," Sayid wryly smiled, "then what does that make you?"

Juliet blanched.

"Elizabeth obviously was expecting one child, when you kept her second a secret," his eyebrows rose in suspicion, "why, I wonder, is that?"

XXX

Searching for the cabin was like searching for God in a natural disaster. Elle's shoulder was heavy carrying a sodden Sammy and nothing was worse than walking around in water soaked jeans that were drying up in the sun. Her body ached but her spirits were high as she watched her son sleep soundly. Sawyer on the other hand, was grumbling and cussing under his breath and she knew that Aidan's first words were going to be something uncouth.

"John," Elle called out, "can we stop for a few?"

He appeared despondent, as if he was lost, and nodded his head in agreement.

"That'd be a wise decision," he wiped his brow, "it appears we could use a respite."

As Claire and Elle took a seat amongst some thick grass, Sawyer too sat with Elle and handed over a sleeping Aidan. To their left, Alex and Karl sat with Ben who they had tied to a tree. Claire turns to Elle and makes a face.

"I don't know why we have to bring him along," she wrinkled her nose, "I'd feel much safer without him trailing behind us."

"Believe me," Elle said, "better to keep him close."

As they chatted, they overheard Ben calling out to Alex. She didn't seem too responsive until Karl spoke up in defense of her.

"Keep your mouth shut, Mr. Linus."

"Karl!" Ben's words dripped with sarcasm, "Now if you're gonna sleep with my daughter, I insist you call me Ben."

Karl, obviously angered, stood up and approached Ben, fists tightly coiled. Sawyer jumped to his feet and ran over and pulled Karl away.

"Easy kid," he brushed his shoulders, "guy's just tryin' to get into your head. Go take a walk or somethin'."

"Yeah," Karl grunted, "come on Alex."

As Sawyer began to walk away, Ben called out to him, "Mind if I ask you a question, James?"

"Yeah," Sawyer jabbed, "I do."

"Ever wonder why baby number two looks nothing like you?"

"Wasting your time, Yoda."

"I know it's not a pleasant thought," Ben planted the seed, "but the thought hasn't crossed your mind?"

"Only thought crossin' my mind, right now, is hangin' you off this here tree."

"James," Ben shook his head, "look at your self. Sure on this island, you're handsome, brave, daring, but if you left with them, back in the real world, a low life scam artist like you could never be the poster boy for a Cool Water campaign or compete with a first class surgeon."

"What do I have to compete with Jack for?" Sawyer spat.

"Think about it, James," Ben smirked, "weren't you ever tempted?" Ben knew this to be true, Sawyer's romp with Ana-Lucia and Elle's reaction to it was caught on video in the hatch. His people were watching their every move. This included Elle and Jack's one night stand.

Sawyer's fists were pummeling into Ben's face before thoughts or words could form. Elle could do nothing but watch and shield her babies from the sight of their father's ravaging of Ben. Too young to comprehend, but were they? She recalled how when Sawyer and she argued, she'd be kicked, as if he, well, they were telling her to stop fighting. Elle turned to the only person she could think of to stop him and called out.

"John!" He turned to what she was witnessing and ran towards Sawyer.

"James!" he ordered, "Don't!"

Sawyer, his hands a bloody mess, his hair going every direction but right, stared at Locke with malice.

"Don't what?"

"Anyone wanna tell me why we're keepin' this guy alive?"

"Because, James," Locke folded his hands together, "he's been here longer than any one of us, because he has the information we need, and apart from his mouth, he's completely harmless."

"His mouth put that hole in your gut?" Sawyer shot him a sadistic nod.

"Ok, James," Locke digressed, "let's execute him, right here, right now," he pointed to Alex, "right in front of his daughter."

Sawyer backed down, but instead, he picked up Ben's ropes and dragged him to his knees, tossed the ropes to Locke and warned him, "It's only a matter of time before he gets us, Johnny, and I bet he's already figured out how he's gonna do it."

Tossing the ropes to Locke, he grunted, "So you walk him."

Instead of reaching for the rifle he earlier had strapped to his back, he traded it for his sons, and gave it to Elle. Helping her to her feet, he waited for Claire to steady herself and Aaron and then pushed on. Elle swung the rifle over her back, grateful for the lighter load, but concern for Sawyer washed over her. She noticed he kept glancing down at the babies as they slept.

"What's wrong?" she asked, "They didn't spit up did they?"

"Nah," he shook his head, "they're perfect."

"He got into your head," she looked back at Ben who had a smirk on his face, which ran goose bumps up and down her arms, "didn't he?"

"Like hell," Sawyer lied, staring at Aidan who more and more looked less like him and more like Jack with every passing second.

Chapter 5 *Wit in women is apt to have bad consequences; like a sword without a scabbard, it wounds the wearer and provokes assailants.*Elizabeth Montagu

The terrain got rougher and steeper as they climbed up a cliff that overlooked what appeared to be a free flowing stream. Sawyer held the babies close to his chest as he walked ahead of Elle and Hurley appeared at her side startling her with his voice.

"Dude," his fingers looped through his hair, "wind's really bustlin' up here, huh?"

Looking around, Elle noticed that in fact, it wasn't windy at all. But what was that sound? Searching high and low, she stepped to the edge of the cliff and noticed what appeared to be a parachute lodged and flailing in a tree. Its occupant had dislodged herself and was lolling in circles some twenty feet below.

"Hey, Locke," Elle called over, "looks like Chicken Little was right after all."

Locke appeared at Elle and Hurley's side and stood with his hands on his sides, smiling broadly at their new arrival. Little did she know, she was uninvited. Smiling back up at them, she called out in her thick, yet wavering, English accent.

"Hi."

"Hi, yourself." John Locke motioned with his hand, "Why don't you come up and introduce yourself."

As Elle and the rest of the renegades gathered around their newly found visitor, Elle took in her appearance. A rather lean, yet muscular woman, early to late twenties, with red hair, and bright intense eyes, but something was unsettling about her; she spoke too much. What the island didn't need was another chatterbox.

"I can't believe you're alive!" she exasperated, "How many of you are there?"

"Why do you wanna know?" Hurley asked, right before Elle was about to ask something similar, but not so nicely.

"Why wouldn't I want to know," Charlotte took offense, which Elle found to be amusing.

"Forty-eight of us, Harlot," Elle jumped in, "now it's time for you to answer a few questions."

"Charlotte," the red head shot her an icy glare, "the name's Charlotte."

"Elizabeth." Locke reprimanded. Charlotte turned to Claire and Sawyer.

"Is that your baby?" she pointed to Claire.

"Ah, hum," Claire confirmed, holding Aaron tightly to her chest.

"And those two there," she pointed to Sawyer, "were they born on the island too?"

"Enough with the questions, Red," Elle stepped in front of her babies.

"So I take that as a yes," Charlotte nodded, "you being the mum."

"Congrats all around, aye?"

"This rescue team of yours," Locke was getting impatient, "how many of you?"

"Four," she replied almost too quickly, "including me."

Sawyer pulled Elle close, for the first time, since the awkwardness before they set off towards the cliff. Shifting the babies' weight, he leant in close so she was in ear shot and whispered that something was off about Charlotte.

"You think?" Elle rolled her eyes. In the meantime, Locke was still asking questions about the helicopter. Charlotte, too, was impatient with her answers. Abruptly answering, as if she was fed the information, her answers were short, and she appeared to be antsy.

"I dunno where the helicopter is," her voice rattled, "I had to jump, I'm lucky to be alive."

"Get up," Locke ordered her, "you're coming with us."

"What?" Charlotte's eyes were brimmed with confusion. "We need to stay so they can find us."

"See, that's your problem," Locke grinned, "we don't want to be found."

XXX

Back at the beach, Juliet was stunned at Sayid's accusations that she had something to do with Elle's dual pregnancy. In fact, she was astonished that he figured it out at all. He was smart, too smart, for his own good, but two could play that game, she thought to herself. However, how could she get around his question without putting herself, her tests, into jeopardy?

"You know why I was brought to this island, Sayid," Juliet questioned him.

"Yes," Sayid replied, "you are a fertility doctor, you were brought here to help the women on this island survive through their deliveries."

"You are correct," Juliet nodded, "and you know how many women I've seen die?"

"As many as you have said," Sayid broadly answered.

"Too many," Juliet sighed, "so it is true, when your plane crashed, information on all of you was at our disposal."

"So then there is something about Elizabeth," Sayid surmised, "something that caught your eye, why you kidnapped her along with the others?"

"We were interested in Claire because she was impregnated off island," Juliet apologized, "and I cannot apologize enough for what occurred because of those circumstances."

"Elizabeth," Sayid insisted, "I want to know about Elizabeth."

"She has something that only one out of one million women have," Juliet smiled.

"Something that you needed," Sayid deduced with a grimace.

"It is not something we can just take from her, Sayid," Juliet spat, "I could never, would never."

"What is this condition?" Sayid's interest was piqued.

"She has two uteri," Juliet confessed, "higher percentage rate of mass production."

"So, are you saying you intend to use her to produce offspring?" Sayid became highly disgusted. "That is inhumane."

Juliet said nothing. Sayid became more and more uneased at her silence.

"That still doesn't explain why she survived the births," Sayid was becoming angry with Juliet and as he stood up and loomed over her, it was apparent she was not appeasing his appetite.

"It explains everything," Juliet's voice dramatically changed, as did her posture.

"There is nothing else you need to know," Juliet in a way warned Sayid, "it's better off that way."

"Better for whom," Sayid's voice dripped with concern, his eyes rounded with suspicion.

"For everyone involved."

"You cannot leave her without answers," Sayid immediately began to walk off, his temper reeling, ideas of what Juliet and the Others had planned for Elizabeth, had made him want to revel in his darker side. Sand, along with his words, kicked up at Juliet as she attempted to keep up.

"You heard her," Juliet assured him, as well as reassuring herself, "she'll be back for me."

"She'll get her answers," Juliet finalized. Which answers, well, we'll just see.

XXX

A shocked Charlotte stood upright and threw her hands up in desperation and with a shrill in her voice demanded the question of why they wouldn't want to be found. But before she knew it, Locke had his hands all over her, unlocking her transponder, tying it with extra rope he just happened to have in his knapsack to an unexpecting Vincent and had sent him off with a quick slap to the dog's rear.

"Hey!" Charlotte cried out, "What did you go and do that for?"

"Like the man said," Sawyer cocked an eyebrow as he got to his feet, "some of us ain't in the mood to be found."

"Then why did you call our boat for rescue?" she looked to the women hoping to get a sympathy vote. Unfortunately for her, she looked to the wrong woman.

"That wasn't us." Elle bit her lip. "Our friends, they called you. They are the ones who want to be rescued."

"Then…why do the lot of you want to stay here?" Charlotte's voice raised concern.

Shuffling his feet, Locke spoke with strictness and finality as he gave an order and stated the obvious.

"Once Sayid and the others find the dog, they'll know we have you," he looked to Charlotte, "we have to keep moving."

Wanting to protest as she was keen on doing, but finding it difficult to do as Locke had a gun brandished into her back, she walked onward with the rest of them, keeping in line. Every now and then she would turn and catch Elle's eye, but Elle did her best to ignore her, but found her to be a tad annoying. Figuring she'd better swat this fly down, Elle sidled up next to her. Hurley tagged along. He knew it'd be entertaining to say the least, whatever Elle had up her sleeve. Plus, Claire had taken Aaron and was silently walking close by Sawyer and appeared safe for the time being.

"Speak." Elle blurted. Hurley chuckled.

"Well," Charlotte's shoulders sank, "you're not one for small talk," she surmised.

"Got that right," Elle kept it short, "either you get it out now, or not, it's up to you."

"Why don't you want to be rescued?" Charlotte asked with curiosity.

Reasons, Elle thought to herself, this stranger wants reasons. Hell, she imagined, I could rattle on and give her a whole list of reasons why I wouldn't want to be rescued. I'm wanted for murder, sh*t, Elle laughed to herself, that's at the top of the list. Other reasons, Elle thought, who were these people, this Charlotte, for one, were they really there to rescue them, or were they some elaborate means of false hope?

"Listen, Char," Elle finally spoke, "I don't trust you as far as I can throw you," as she looked her up and down.

"And by the looks of ya," Elle laughed, "you're what? 135 lbs. soaking wet?"

"We've been through hell and back on this island," Elle told her, "lied to, manipulated, we've had our people tortured, killed, and experimented on."

"So you have to forgive me if we don't take your rescue with a grain of salt."

"Yeah," Charlotte smirked, "I can definitely see why you'd want to stay here without access to reality."

At that precise moment a flare went off in the blue sky and Charlotte exclaimed that it had to have been one of her mates.

"That's them!" she pointed, "That's somebody from my team!"

The rest of the group, especially Rousseau who had been dragging along an exceptionally quiet Ben looked unimpressed. Karl and Alex were huddled together, their faces blank. Elle looked to Sawyer who just shook his head. Claire was emotionless. The only one who appeared to be excited was Charlotte. Elle wanted to elbow her in the jaw.

"What's wrong with you people?" she looked at them aghast.

"Maybe we should see who launched that flare," Hurley suggested, "for all we know it could be one of us."

"They could be hurt, John," Claire finally spoke.

"No!" Locke bellowed. "She's lying. Whoever they are, they didn't come for us. We keep moving forward."

Elle moved towards her sons and Sawyer who quipped, "Sure, who are we to argue with taller, ghost, Walt."

"You're coming with us," Locked informed her.

"You know what?" Charlotte shrugged, "I'm not asking for permission." "You people do whatever you want, but you can't bloody well keep me from my…"

Two gun shots went off, their trajectory hitting Charlotte in the chest, knocking her to her back. Elle covered Sawyer and her babies with her chest as she heard the gunshots go off and she noticed that Hurley did the same with Claire. As silence filled the deadened air, Elle turned around to see Ben wielding a gun, as Karl searched feverishly in his back pocket for the one he had been carrying. Sawyer snarled towards Ben, but felt helpless as he held his children.

"What the hell did you do you son'of'a'bitch?"

To his surprise, Elle sprinted towards Ben and kicked the gun out of his hand and gave him an uppercut to the jaw. Pinning him to the ground, she managed to dig the heel of her shoe into his thigh as she held the gun under his chin.

"Try me," she snarled, as she picked him up and threw him up against a tree. Holding the gun to his head, she could hear Locke to the rear, checking on the fallen Charlotte. There was no way she could have survived that. Elle heard faint sputtering.

"She's alive," Claire gasped.

"A vest," Locke helped her to her feet.

"Elizabeth, listen to me, please!" Ben pleaded with the gun's nozzle, more so, than her.

"Shut your mouth, Benji." Elle tsked.

"You okay?" Locke asked Charlotte as he escorted her to a nearby stump to sit down on.

"Feels like I've got a cinder block on my chest, but I'll survive." She winced.

"I never meant for this to happen," Locke sincerely apologized.

Flabbergasted, Charlotte's eyes widened, "Really, 'cause I could have sworn you were ready to shoot me yourself."

"Now what good are you to me dead?" Locked smiled that intense, yet fanatical smile of his.

Locke walked over to Elle who still had Ben held up against a tree. Sawyer had given the babies over to Hurley and had rushed over to Elle's side. As Elle had the gun aimed at Ben's head, Sawyer had his shoulders pinned to the tree. Sneering at Locke, Sawyer turned.

"Guess this is where I get to say I told you so."

"James, I stand corrected."

"You want me to do it," Sawyer offered, "or can the lady do it?"

"No, no," Locke frowned, "It's my mess, I'll clean it up."

But before they knew it, Elle had pulled the trigger. Gasps could be heard all around. Ben even let out a slight whimper. Blinking, as he opened his eyes, and realized he was still alive, Elle winked and laughed.

"Safety, you fool." Handing over the gun, she caught Charlotte's eye and winked. That's right, Elle thought to herself, I could take you.

Alex rushed towards her father, shouting no, repeatedly. Karl didn't attempt to hold her back. Apparent that he'd be first hand witness to Ben's murder. Locke instructed Rousseau to take Alex away, so she wouldn't have to suffer the demise of her father. Finally snapping to, Karl agreed and they both were escorting Alex away. Locke also looked to the others and told them to leave if they didn't want to see the execution. Again, Claire, spoke.

"John, we should talk about this."

"Claire," he moralized, "what if those bullets had hit you or Aaron?" She turned to walk away.

Ben found the opportune moment to monopolize and manipulate his way out of an execution. Shouting that he had the answers that Locke needed, he had caught their attention. Locke paused.

"Don't fall for his bullsh*t," Elle pressured.

But Locke weakened, "What is the Monster?"

Ben appeared confused, "What?"

Impatient with his answer, Locke pressured him again, "The black smoke, what is it?"

"I don't know." Ben shook his head in the negative.

"Then goodbye, Benjamin." Locke cocked the gun.

"Make sure the safety's off this time," Elle taunted.

Ben panicked. His words flowed and Elle didn't believe for a second that he took a moment to breathe in between sentences. He rattled on about Charlotte and the rest of said rescue.

"Her name is Charlotte Lewis!" He fidgeted towards the woman he shot. "Charlotte Staples Lewis. Born July second, nineteen seventy-nine, Essex, England. Parents David and Jeanette. Eldest of three, all girls. She was raised in Bromsgrove. Did her undergraduate studies at Kent. Took her PhD in Cultural Anthropology at Oxford. She's here with two other team members and a pilot. Their names Daniel Faraday, Miles Straume, Frank Lapidus."

"Seem's Ben's been holdin' out on us this whole time," Sawyer whistled.

"And you're absolutely right, John," Ben took in a breath, "your instinct was impeccable. These people are a threat. If you shoot me, you'll never know how great a threat they really are. Because I know what they are doing here. I know what they want."

"What do they want?" Sawyer asked irately.

"Me, James," Ben said flatly, "they want me."

"How do you know all this," Locked asked, with the gun still aimed at Ben's head.

"Because," Ben smirked, "I have a man on their boat."

Chapter 6 *And oftentimes to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths; win us with honest trifles, to betray us in deepest consequence.*Shakespeare

After hearing that Ben had a super spy on their theoretical rescue freighter, Elle was just as suspicious as ever and her instincts on pulling the trigger made her desire to do it again, only this time, for real. Her eyes darted back and forth from Ben who was being led by Locke and guarded by an ever vigilant Rousseau. She licked the film that coated her teeth and she ran a hand through her damp hair. She heard some faint sounds from the rear of the group and her maternal instincts kicked in. Stopping in her tracks, her momentary lapse in motherhood dissipated, she turned to watch as Hurley was blowing air through his lips and making motorboats noises. She waited until he caught up to her, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, looked in on her two boys, and jogged up to Sawyer who was busy poking and toying with Ben.

"You ready to give us the name, Gizmo?" He shoved Ben roughly from behind and Elle moaned.

"Really, Sawyer," she crinkled her nose up at him, "of all the names, you went with Gizmo?"

"Hell, darlin'," he questioned her, "what's wrong with it?"

"Gizmo's the cute one," Elle laughed, "I would have gone with Stripe, the leader of the bad ones."

"While I find this all quite amusing," Locke turned to face them with a stern expression that they perceived to be anything but amused, he gestured towards Sawyer, "he's not going to tell us the name of his spy, James."

"Yeah," Sawyer had his arm around Elle, "why the hell not?"

"Because, it's the only thing…" but he was interrupted by Elle, "keeping him alive."

"That's right, Elizabeth," Locke nodded, "you're catching on."

"That's where you're wrong, John," Elle raised an eyebrow, "it's you who's not catching on."

"In the end, when you look back," Elle shot a disgusted look towards Ben, "this whole time, you thought it was your idea, but in reality, it was his."

"Take it from me, John," Elle shoved a hard finger into her chest, "a con knows."

Ben's expression was emotionless, Elle didn't expect anything less from him, but Locke's reaction was impulsive. He jerked on Ben's ropes with presumed authority, but Elle didn't see authority in his eyes, she saw doubt. Following a man who doubted words from a con artist like herself, left her with doubts of her own. She was better off leading them. However, she kept the possibility of mutiny to herself. They trudged on while Sawyer instigated and peppered Ben with idle threats. Hurley had handed over Sammy and Aidan to Elle insisting he had enough weight to carry, but he'd be glad to take them later on.

"Hey," Elle nudged Sawyer, "take Sammy will ya?"

"Sure thang," he nuzzled him in close, "Mama's not gonna like this one, dimples."

"Hey, Johnny-boy," he shouted in Locke's direction, "I got an idea on how we get him to talk."

"How's that?" Hurley wondered aloud.

"We take a gun, point it to his big toe and send that little piggy to the market."

"Sawyer!" Elle shoved him. "Alright, alright," he grunted.

"But if that ain't gonna work," he chuckled, "we move on to the roast beef."

"I'm pretty sure," Elle eyes were dark and bitter, "that's not how I wanted them to learn their first nursery rhyme."

"Aww, c'mon," he looked down at Sammy, "the kid's smilin'."

"That's not a smile," Elle walked on ahead, "it's gas…you should be familiar with it…you make the same face."

Locked stopped walking and ran a handkerchief along his forehead. Obviously confused in direction, his frustration was written clearly on his face, he stood, mumbling incoherently to himself. Bending to the ground, Elle noticed that he picked up something ashy and rubbed it between his fingers and let it fall back to the ground. Curiosity struck her. Claire walked up to Elle and her shoulder brushed Elle's. Aaron began to whine and Claire jiggled him. Mentioning to Elle that it was nearing his feeding time, Elle told her she'd take care of them. She walked over to John and put a hand on his shoulder. Jumping back, she raised a hand, apologizing.

"Take it easy, John," Elle appeased him, "but where's this cabin," she pointed to Claire, "Aaron needs to be fed."

"It should be here," he stuttered, "right here, I dunno."

"Maybe we got turned around, Dude," Hurley offered, a tad confused, "It could be anywhere."

Struggling with his failure, Locke forcibly yelled that the cabin was supposed to be in that exact spot. As the rest of them stood there, some of them, their jaws slack, others, a bit frightened, the rest, like Sawyer, Ben, and Elle, suspicious, felt like laughing. Not laughing like someone told the funniest joke, but more so, the joke was on them. Even better, the joke was on Locke, and they were there to tag along. Sawyer was getting restless and that was never a good thing. Fortunately for him, he had his son in his arms. Elle was grateful for that. He questioned Locke, asking what was so damn important in the cabin. Ben answered for Locke in his snarky voice.

"He's looking for somebody to tell him what to do next." To which John turned to Ben who smiled and instantaneously, John picked up his gear and decided that they should keep on moving. The barracks were only about an hour or so away. Rousseau made a valid point that if Charlotte's team was with Jack then they would know that they would be making their way to the barracks. Charlotte nattily remained silent. Annoying Elle once again.

"Plus, Red was wearing a vest," Elle reminded them, "which means her team's going to expect a fight."

Hurley suggested letting Charlotte go, in good faith. "If all they want is her," he started, but was interrupted by an irritated Locke. "We're keeping her because she's going to be valuable, Hugo."

"Valuable?" Hurley looked to Elle for some assistance, to which Elle lowered her eyes.

"She's only valuable if she's alive," Hurley, "I'm sorry."

"They mean as a hostage, Luv," Charlotte summarized.

"No way," Hurley stomped his foot, "I didn't sign up for this," flashes of burying Libby, losing Charlie, all the people he had seen come and go the ninety three days on that island, he wasn't ready to see another, use another, or put another in harm's way.

"Then what did you sign up for, Hugo?" Locke demanded, "Because I'm in charge here and I say we keep going and she comes with."

The hike to the barracks wasn't much further but what they found when they got there was a mixture of emotions. Elle couldn't grasp what she was seeing. Houses, a playground, a clothesline, clothes still hanging and whipping in the breeze, some doors to the houses wide open, as if the Others had abandoned without warning, which is what they actually did. To where, she wondered, where did they disappear to while the rest of us were being targeted? Was it shallow that her first thoughts ran back to working water and a bed? However before they got to that, if Rousseau was right, Jack would send Sayid most likely and whoever else from Charlotte's team to track her down and they had to have the barrack surrounded. Locke set the plan in motion. Their first priority would be dual fold; Charlotte and Ben. Elle suggested leaving a dummy trail from Ben's house after Locke mentioned that Ben had a secret room where he had kept someone hidden; Locke wouldn't go into details.

"Good thinking," Locke nodded, "Rousseau, you take Ben and lead him to the boat house while I set up Charlotte's accommodations."

"What about the rest of us, Hoss," Sawyer offered.

"James, Hugo," he looked to them, "you're with me."

"Excuse me," Elle raised her one free hand, "you forgettin' someone?"

"I want you in charge of the others," Locke informed her, "keep them safe beyond the tree line, but within our sights, plus, the babies, I just assumed…"

"When you assume, John," Elle handed off Aidan to Alex who smiled and questioned her, "are you sure 'bout this?"

Winking towards Karl, Elle nodded. "It's like birth control, believe me."

Sawyer laughed as he handed Sammy over to Karl and repeated Elle's words of wisdom.

"Don't drop 'em, Kid," Sawyer's tone was fatherly, that was until Karl looked dumbfounded as Sammy began to squirm in his arms. Sawyer let out a loud chuckle and told him to relax. Just rock him a little, he suggested, keep him close to his brother. Karl nodded and together, he and Alex and the rest of the group headed off behind the barracks as they headed inside.

"Alright Hugo," Locke wrung his hands, "we've got a trap to set."

"Oh, man."

As they set up the house to make it appear used and abandoned, Elle made sure the dummy trail was set up, and headed back to Sawyer who was looking out the window for any signs of their guests. For a moment, Elle looked around the house they were standing inside and reveled in it. She rested her head upon Sawyer's shoulder and sighed into it. Inhaling his sweaty menthol aroma she breathed in deeply and wrapped her arms around his waist. He cradled her arms within his own grasp as he let out a low whistle.

"We've got company," he nodded towards the west, "and it ain't the Doc."

"Sayid," Elle exhaled, "Kate," she recognized, "and I'm guessing that's one of Charlotte's?"

"Let's get into position."

Elle raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side.

"Hell," Sawyer groaned, "I wish."

"I'll take Kate," Elle offered, "I think she'll respond better to me," she suggested.

"I agree," Locke entered, but spoke softly, "Sawyer, you're with me, we'll cover Sayid and the Asian."

"I hate that we used Hurley," Elle whispered as they could hear loud banging and muffled screams coming from one of the abandoned houses two doors down. They had locked Hurley in one of the closets and set up a trap, leaving him behind. If all panned out as planned, Hurley would lead them straight into the trap. They watched from behind the house as Kate shouted that the noises were coming from one of the houses and as she readied her gun, Sayid kicked in the door. Elle made her way over to Ben's house where she silently entered through the back door. Any moment now, they would be entering Ben's house, because that's where Hurley would tell them that's where they were headed before they left for their new destination. Elle caught sight of Kate as she entered Ben's bedroom as she watched from a slit in the bathroom down the hall. Sawyer too was keeping an eye on the hall way for the Asian whom they overheard call Miles but was more attentive on Sayid's interaction. Elle counted to five, making sure she didn't ruin the surprise and scare Kate. One, she opened the door, two, she stepped into the hallway, making sure not to make a sound, three, she place one hand flat on the door while she holstered her gun, four, she pushed open the door to find Kate looking under the bed, five, Kate screamed for Sayid as she aimed her gun at Elle's head.

"Lower it, Kate," Elle instructed with the nozzle of her own gun, "Sayid's fine."

"So, what is this," Kate watched as Elle closed over the door, "am I your prisoner?"

"Tell you the truth, Kate," Elle sat cross legged on the bed, "I think Locke's off his freakin' rocker."

"Then why are you with him?"

"Question is," Elle raised the bar, "why aren't you?"

"We've got beds, houses, running water," Elle looked around, "last time I recalled, you, me, even Sawyer, we're all wanted for something." "We go back, we face hard time."

"We stay, we face, cushiony mattresses, and a little drama here and there."

"The beds do look good don't they," Kate sort of smiled as she sat next to Elle.

"Might as well use it," Elle suggested, "I think Locke's gonna be awhile."

"What about the boys?" Kate asked, inquiring how Elle could just leave them to go on a mission so soon.

"The kids are watchin' them." Elle said with a flip of her hand.

"Oh, that's ironic." Kate fell back against the bed.

"I'm taking this mother thing seriously," she lightly slapped Kate's shoulder, "teaching Alex and Karl about the significance of birth control."

While Elle and Kate rested for what seemed like hours, Kate didn't realize that the one person she trusted, the one person that Jack had entrusted her with, had just traded her over to Locke. Sayid had gone to get Charlotte back, yes, but he never said how he would manage it. It was in Sayid's blood to manipulate, just as it was in Elle's blood to con, in Kate's blood to run, in Locke's blood to follow his faith blindly, in Jack's blood to heal, and in Sawyer's blood to doubt.

Chapter 7 *What I learned I rejected but I believe again, I will suffer the consequence of this inquisition, If I jump in this fountain, will I be forgiven?*Alanis Morissette

A knock came at the door and woke Elle up, but an agitated Kate was already sitting up, rocking back and forth, on a wicker chair in the corner of the room as Elle reached for the gun on the dresser, and opened the door cautiously. Standing outside of it was Locke, with a strange expression on his face. It was nearing dusk, Elle was sure of it; she must have been out for a few hours.

"Sayid wants to speak with you," Locke nodded to Elle, "before he leaves."

"Leavin'?" Elle's brow furrowed unsure of his motives as she looked back at Kate, "What about Kate?"

"Kate's staying with us for awhile," Locke's smile sent shivers down Kate's back, realizing she was just handed over for Charlotte.

"Can you go check on the boys," Elle asked Kate, offering her the chance to get out of the house. Locke didn't seem to protest. He opened the door wider and allowed Kate to exit. He led her to the house next door. Elle heard him mention that Karl and Alex had already set up the house for Elle and Sawyer.

"Elle," Kate wrinkled her nose, "you know I'm not really good with babies," as she walked past her down the hallway, to which Elle chuckled.

"Tough."

Locke led Elle to Ben's house where she found Sayid sitting as comfortable as he could on a couch with a stunned and cautious Charlotte at his side. Sawyer was standing guard under the frame of the doorway with a rifle at his side. He winked as he watched a sleepy Elle walk in and gave her a small slap on the rear as she sauntered past him. Charlotte snorted as she watched Elle walk in and Sayid gave her a silencing look with his smoldering eyes. Nodding to Sawyer, who escorted Charlotte outside, Sayid asked Elle to sit down.

"I rather stand," she didn't mean to come off rude, but something in the way Sayid was acting, triggered her senses.

"Please, Elizabeth," Sayid stood, offering her again, the couch, "sit with me."

"Is this where you confess to me why you just turned against one of your own for one of theirs?" Elle snapped.

Sayid dropped his gaze, ashamed for his actions, but recollected himself and spoke with confidence, "Kate will manage," Sayid smiled, to which Elle unfortunately agreed.

"It was the only option I had," Sayid didn't apologize, "if I brought Charlotte back, I can gain access to the freighter, find answers." He spoke as his hands flourished.

"Who's to say you'll find anything," Elle's voice cracked, "who's to say they won't find you at the bottom of the ocean with the rest of the supposed crash victims?"

"I will find answers, Elizabeth," Sayid promised her, "that is why I am here, that is why I had to speak with you before I left."

"What are you talking about," Elle's eyes widened in apprehension.

"Whatever your feelings are about Juliet," Sayid began, "they are correct."

"Juliet," Elle shook her head, "what about her?"

"You were right," Sayid continued, "your assumptions about why you were taken and experimented on," Sayid wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Juliet confessed to me that you have a rare condition," Sayid told her, "two uteri."

"Two…" Elle's olive complexion went strikingly white. "She knew I was having two children and didn't tell me?" Elle was raging. "Why would she keep that from me?"

"I do not know all the facts, Elizabeth," Sayid shook his head, "perhaps in case only one survived," he suggested. Elle's body became rigid, Sayid regretted his words instantaneously.

"By staying on this island," Sayid warned her, "they plan on using you for producing offspring," he took her hands into his, "of this I am positive and sickened."

"You must get off the island." His grip tightened. His words forced themselves, into her mind, invaded her soul, uninvited terms of terror.

"That will never happen, Sayid," Elle stood up, dropping his hands in anger.

"I refuse to be used," she spat, "exploited, impregnated, violated," tears brimmed her lids, her body quaked, her voice rose, causing Sawyer to come barging into the house.

"What the hell did you say to her, Mohammed," Sawyer slammed Sayid into the couch where Sayid dropped like a puppet whose strings were suddenly cut.

"The truth," Sayid whispered, "I told her the truth."

"Sawyer," Sayid looked to him before walking out the door, "don't let her out of your sight," he turned to Elle as she exhaled, "no matter how stubborn she is, no matter the consequences of words, no matter the consequences of actions." With those final words, he stood up, walked out of the house, and out of their compound.

"What was that all…" Sawyer went to say, but Elle had snuck around him and headed outside to find her sons.

"Damn it," Sawyer cursed himself, "failed that one already," he ran after her.

Questions and damnations were burning in her skull. She had two uteri, twice the chance for pregnancy, and twice the chance for having babies, why didn't Juliet tell her? She had some answers. She now knew why she was kidnapped, experimented on, but still no explanation on why she survived the deliveries. Other questions arose. Only Juliet had the answers. Only Juliet could tell her. However, would Juliet tell her? She didn't trust her, like the day she found out she was responsible for Claire's sudden sickness, but then there were days she redeemed herself when she showed her the little peanut that was in her womb, but that was soon erased when Kate and she found the tape that proved Juliet was spying for Ben. She only showed her one child, when there were two, two children, two uteri, how could a trained fertility doctor, bypass that? Ignore that? She couldn't. She would only do that if she had a hidden agenda and had someone to answer to. That person, they were keeping under lock and key. That person was Benjamin Linus. That's who the people on the freighter wanted. So if that's who they wanted, Elle promised herself, then perhaps, she'd just help them attain their person of interest.

Elle walked into the yellow house as she heard Kate and Alex talking about the day she helped them escape. She could hear Karl and Hurley chatting but all that seemed like background noise to the gurgling that was coming from the two little boys that Kate and Alex had nestled in their arms. Elle ran over and scooped up her boys one at a time and without a word of thanks she took them into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. Tears were streaming down her face as she scanned their tiny, perfect faces. Sammy's eyes were lightening glass green, with specks of gold, his nose was slightly upturned, his mouth, puckered as he suckled on her knuckle. Aidan on the other hand, had coal dust eyes with a hint of blue gray, his lips, thin and taunt, just like mine, she thought to herself. She didn't hear the door open, but felt the bed's weight shift down, as Sawyer lifted Aidan out of her arms and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"What's got you so spooked," he questioned her, the same question he asked her three months ago. It seemed years ago to her.

"We have to find them a place to sleep," she changed the subject, as she looked around the room. "You didn't see any cribs did you?"

"No," Sawyer played along, "but I've got an idea," he laid Aidan down on the bed in-between two pillows so he wouldn't roll off the bed and took out a dresser drawer. Rummaging through the closets, he found some towels, a small comforter and lined up the drawer. Elle watched in awe, never thinking Sawyer would be that kind of dad. What would she know though, she laughed to herself, she never had that kind of dad.

"Voila!" Sawyer lifted his hands up in mock showmanship, "how's that, Mama?"

"It's perfect," she handed him Sammy first, and then Aidan, who together, fit quite cozy.

"Now," Sawyer pulled her up onto the bed, "tell me."

Elle laid into his chest and she told him what Sayid had relayed to her before he had barged in. Sawyer just listened as he caressed her hair, taking in the news, not wanting to admit that he was just as shocked and frightened as she was. He was red with rage as he finally got some answers as to why they were taken, as to why he and Elle were caged. It would explain the temptations, the difficult situations they were placed in, the outcome, he found himself surmising was that their trials always ended up turning something negative in the positive post coital. He'd be damned however, if his woman was going to be used to pop babies out like a pez dispenser. Elle had run out of tears and for the first time since they had arrived at the barracks she finally breathed. At that moment something had taken over her as she reached up and stroked Sawyer's chest. He caught her large russet eyes and noticing that long lost look, reached for her hands and questioned her with his eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"Please," Elle lifted her shirt over her head revealing her tanned bosom tossing it to the floor, as Sawyer too unzipped her jeans and they assisted one another with their filthy clothes until they were bare and exposed under the covers, the soft, spotless, welcoming covers, of a bed. They made love, never skipping an inch of their bodies, their bodies warming to their soft and gentle touch, the thrusts never rough, the kisses never bitter. Elle tried to never make a sound, using a pillow to stifle herself and Sawyer just gnawed on the flesh of her back which caused her to laugh uncontrollably. A knock came unexpectedly at the door, to which Sawyer muttered an aww damn but Elle quickly wrapped herself in a sheet and peered through the door.

"Hey," Claire blushed, "we thought we'd give you guys a few," she winked, "but we're going to get going, I'm next door with Hurley if you need anything."

Elle laughed, "And Kate?"

"Mind if I take the guest room," Kate ushered up alongside Claire trying to peek into the room.

"Hell, Freckles," Sawyer hid under the covers, "mind ya'business."

"Take it," Elle told her, "please, and thanks for watching the boys, both of you."

"Anytime," Claire and Kate answered in unison, but as Kate walked off, Claire looked at Elle with worry.

"What happened earlier," she nodded towards the living room, "you know, when you came storming in and grabbed the lil guys and just escaped to this here room?"

"Don't worry about it, Claire," Elle dismissed her with a shake of her head, but Claire became angry.

"Don't treat me like a child," Claire raised her voice, "not you, Elle, please."

Elle opened the door and wrapped her arms around a trembling Claire. Sawyer excused himself from the bed and wrapped a sheet around himself and entered the bathroom closing the door behind him. Elle could hear the shower turning on. Elle brought Claire in and closed the door. Sitting her down, she reiterated to Claire the same story she had only just told Sawyer hours ago. She hadn't wanted to, but she had seen that look before, she had witnessed those pleading words before; standing in front of her, was her stepsister, Lily. How could she refuse her? She had taken Claire under her wing long before any of this happened and Claire had finally put her in her place. Claire had just lost Charlie and hadn't dealt with that tragedy and now she just placed more on her shoulders. Claire hugged Elle and promised her that whatever Elle needed, she would be there for her.

"Claire," Elle shook her head, "if anyone needs something, it's you, and I promise you, Charlie did not die in vain."

"I know that," Claire nodded and hugged her, "I do."

"I must get to Aaron," Claire wiped a tear from her eye, "Lord knows Hurley's got him listening to some horrendous music."

"'Night, Claire."

Elle closed the door over and stood above her sleeping boys and made sure they were okay before heading into the bathroom. Thinking to herself that there had to be something other than a dresser drawer to keep them snug in, she made a mental note to go rummaging through the house the next morning to find something more suitable as she headed into the bathroom. Sawyer's silhouette was mildly visible through the glass shower door as the steam rose and covered his most intimate parts. Elle watched him closely as he scrubbed his skin raw, almost as if he was trying to shed a part of his skin he no longer needed. His shaggy straw colored hair was sudsy and as he turned to run his hair under the shower head he peered out the door and caught Elle gazing at him. Motioning with his hand for her to come join him, she dropped her sheet, tiptoed into the welcoming, yet scalding water, and allowed Sawyer to shampoo her hair for her. As he worked her hair into a lather, his hands worked their way down her back, and he wrapped his hand around her waist, drawing her closer to his waist. Elle flashed back to the last time she had a shower and immediately thought of Jack. Her stomach churned and tiny flashes of light flickered before her eyes. Instead of reaching out for the shower door, she reached for something more stable.

Gripping Sawyer's hands with force, she turned him away from her, and pushed him against the shower stall. She didn't want him to see her face, she didn't want him to see, that the woman he loved, was no longer, in the present, was no longer, feeling his hands, but feeling the hands of a surgeon. The hot water no longer beat down on her, for her skin felt cold, as her veins hardened, her heart ached, as her mind wandered to the dreadful question of whether Aidan was truly Sawyer's or Jack's. Sawyer thought nothing of her friskiness; he thought it was foreplay. Usually he would like to be the one in the reversed positioned, but lately, with Elle in control, he felt needed, it felt mutual. Her hands caressed his torso; she kissed the small of his back as she crept her way up to his neck, the water cleansing both her sins and his scalp of the suds. The words of that night with Jack crept back into her mind, as she watched the water and soap suds swirl counter clockwise down the drain, manipulation is a form of survival. Why did it always come down to manipulating those closest to her, she wanted to scream, but instead, she snuggled into the oversized towel that Sawyer held open for her with welcoming arms.

"Ready to hit the sack," Sawyer winked, as he pulled on a pair of white boxers and threw on a blue t-shirt.

Tossing Elle a pair of boxers and a grey t-shirt he found in one of the drawers, she simply nodded and pulled a pillow and the comforter off the bed and camped out near the boys.

"What'cha doin' Brownie Bits?" Sawyer stared at her dumbfounded as he watched her scramble from the bed to the floor.

"I just wanna be close to them," she shrugged, "especially since Ben's still lurking around."

"Right," Sawyer roughly grabbed a pillow of his own and tossed it down near her on the floor, "well, wherever you are, that's where I am."

"G'night Dimples," he kissed Sammy," who was sucking on his pinky, "night there, Spit Fire," who had a hand on his brother's back, "and you, Mama," he laid a hard, wet, kiss on Elle, "you done good with them."

"Sawyer," Elle drew out his name, unsure of what to say next.

"Yeah, darlin'," he drew himself in closer, "what is it?"

"I never knew you could smell so damn good." She changed her tactics. She rather have confessed what was eating at her soul, but instead at that moment, she couldn't hurt him, not anymore. She refused to tear her family apart. No matter the consequences. Sawyer let out such a loud guffaw that Elle was sure Hurley and Claire could hear him next door. Instead, she sidled up into his chest, his warmth exuberating off his body like her own personal electric blanket, and fell into a deep, but dreamless sleep.

Chapter 8 *I'm not a problem, until you make one out of spite, I'll give you hell and consequences for trying, don't want an enemy. *Stone Sour

Sawyer drunk with sleep casually rolled over, stretching his arm, to wrap it around Elle's nonexistent waist. Wait, his eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the shattered sun that was making its way through the shades, where the hell was she? Jumping up, the blanket strewn to the side, his boxers twisted uncomfortably, his t-shirt wrinkled, he scanned the room. Neither Elle nor his sons were there. Sayid's haunting words echoed and he quickly threw on his jeans and flung open the door to the bedroom and began to search for his family. Family, the word, foreign to him, one he already felt he was failing to keep in his vocabulary let alone in his damned sight. Something caught one of his senses, a smell, like no other. Usually in the mornings, after he awoke, on the floor, or in a bed, it was the smell of liquor, sex, or some sinister con he pulled over on one of the naïve marks. This smell was different. This smell was inviting and it was luring him to the house next door. Sitting with her legs crossed, her hands wrapped tightly around a mug, sat Elle, chatting with Claire and Kate, while Aidan and Sammy were resting in a wicker laundry basket.

"Mornin' ladies," Sawyer grunted, as he shot a cross glance towards Elle and headed over to the boys.

"Somebody slept on the wrong side of the bed," Kate commented, which caused Claire to chuckle and Sawyer to shoot her a look to mean nothing than mind your own business.

"Take that as a yes," she whispered into her coffee mug.

"Hey," Elle handed him her cup, "you didn't think I ran off or something did you?"

His silence stung her a million times over like she just walked into a hornet's nest. Noticing the awkwardness of the moment, Claire offered to make some more coffee and Kate offered her assistance, leaving the two to talk things out. However, Sawyer didn't feel like talking. Not this time.

"No need to ladies," he hefted up the laundry basket, "it's take your boys to Othersville Arcade Day, so I'ma grab Hugo and get an early start."

"Sawyer," Elle reached for him, but he inched away, "when they start to winge, they're hungry," she sighed, "so then it's take the boys to mama's milk factory day, ya hear?"

"Humph," Sawyer half grunted, half nodded, and he entered Claire's house to find Hurley.

"What's gotten into him," Kate asked Elle, now that he was out of earshot.

Elle didn't feel like having to tell the story all over again, but Kate was the one who helped her kidnap Juliet in the first place, drag her to the medical hatch, and she was the one who was there when Elle found out she was in fact pregnant. Elle looked to Claire who clucked her tongue and Kate became more intrigued. Elle exhausted from telling the story handed the reins over to Claire, who told it with such intrigue and flair, Elle felt as if she was in an action movie. Nix that, Elle thought to herself, a soap opera.

"That bitch," Kate concluded Claire's rendition to which Elle simply nodded.

"What do you plan on doing?" Was Kate's next question, to which Elle answered with a question of her own.

"I actually was wondering the same thing of you," she laughed, "seeing how I know you want so desperately off this island, and we are keeping a boatie locked up for safe keepin'."

"If you're up for it," Kate huddled in closer, "I'll need your help," she looked outward as she watched Sawyer and Hurley walking towards the rec room, "and his."

"Sawyer?" Elle squawked, "I'm not going to be able to get him to do anything right now," she shook her head violently.

"Leave him to me," Kate placed her mug down, "and Claire, you didn't hear a word."

"Do I ever?" Claire halfheartedly sighed, dismissed as she usually felt.

XXX

To put their plan in motion, Kate first had to play her cards right. She had to start slow, not giving away her full hand, saving the ace she had up her sleeve, right until the last moment. She began with showing up at Locke's door. Knocking heavily on the door, he opened it, his hands bloodied, and as he wiped them off with a rag, Kate greeted him.

"You got blood…"

"Well, hello Kate," he grinned as he vigorously wrung his hands with the rag, "I just killed a chicken."

"What can I do for you?"

Kate's stomach flip flopped as she proceeded with her plan. She wasn't about to play nice with John Locke, that was never her style. So she shot straight from her hips. John wasn't as receptive.

"I want to talk to Miles." She had one hand on her hip, the other she leant against the doorjamb. "Where are you keeping him?"

Annoyance rimmed his eyes and he half chuckled at her request, "Why do you need to talk to him?"

Keeping it simple, she told him it was personal, her way of telling him to mind his own business, to which, as she expected, her request was denied. As defiance would have it, Kate spoke up, bringing Jack into the picture, without having to mention his name.

"What gives you the right to decide whether or not-," but she was cut off by Locke's instinctual rebuttal.

"You may think this is a democracy, Kate, because of the way Jack ran things, but this is not a democracy."

"So that makes it," Kate stood firmly, "what, a dictatorship then?"

"If I was a dictator, I would just shoot you, and go about my day. Dinner's at six if you're hungry."

He slammed the door in her face; a face that he hadn't seen was smiling broadly, knowing she had irked a nerve. Step two was finding out where Locke was keeping Miles and last she had heard was the rec room, but after watching Sawyer and Hurley taking the babies that way, she doubted Sawyer would endanger his children in any way. Just as she was mulling her thoughts over, Hurley appeared with a tray of food, walking past her. Perfect, she thought to herself.

"Hey, Hurley," she ran up to him, "you bringing that to Miles?"

Telling her that he was, she informed him, in a manner of speaking, that Locke had asked her to do it, which Hurley was relieved to hear. Handing her the tray, he told her he rather go spend more time with Sawyer and the babies anyway. Plus, his face scowled, he told her that Miles creeped him out.

"He's still in the rec room, right?" Kate baited him.

"Nah, we moved him to the boathouse that…," but he saw that Kate's eyes turned forlorn, and he sighed, "you just Scooby-doo'd me didn't you?"

Apologizing, Kate dual promised Hurley that she would not allow Miles to escape and not to rat on him to Locke. Carrying the tray towards the boathouse, she stumbled upon the door, wiped the filth laden window, peered inside, and spotted a tied up Miles sitting in a chair. Opening the door, she left the tray, lifted a chair, spun it 'round, and sat with her arms crossed over the back. Miles looked her up and down and snorted.

"So the Arab traded you too, huh?"

Kate inched closer to his face and asked him one straight forward question, "Do you know who I am?"

"Excuse me," Miles blinked twice, unsure of her motives.

"Do you know who I am," she repeated, "what I did?"

He smiled, almost sardonically, "What did you do?" This caused Kate to bring her nose only inches from Miles.

"Answer the question."

"Okay," Miles conceded, "I'll tell you what you wanna know, but you gotta do something for me first."

"I'm not letting you go," she stated, but Miles didn't want that, he informed her. He told her that he was exactly where he wanted to be. What he wanted was something else, something manageable, but dangerous.

"If I do that," Kate looked him in the eyes, "you'll have to answer two questions."

"But you," Kate cut him off with a shake of her finger, "alright, fine, I'll answer whatever you want to know, just bring me Benjamin Linus."

XXX

With the cards being dealt, some jokers in the mix, she made her way back to Elle's house and knew the easiest part of the plan was just minutes away. Conning Sawyer wasn't as Elle put it, the oldest trick in the book, but it was something she was known to fall for and learn just as quickly. After all the running, disguising, and lying, Kate could pull a con just like they could. So she put on a disguise, a small one, a simple smile, and knocked on the door. Sawyer's step had some swagger into it as he opened the door and shook his head as Kate asked,

"Can I come in?"

"Why the hell you askin' for," he laughed, "you are livin' in the guest room, ain't ya?"

"Well, it's strange the things you miss out on, like knockin' on doors," Kate winked, "when you're stranded on an island."

Sawyer pointed over to Elle and mumbled, "You know my roommate and the rug rats, right?" His tone was a bit chilly, to which Elle picked up on, but ignored, while she caught Kate's wink, knowing the plan, was going well.

Elle excused herself, "I'm gonna go give the rug rats," she shot an airy glance towards Sawyer, "their first bath," she winked back.

Sawyer led Kate into the kitchen where instead of sitting down on of the kitchen chairs, she casually propped herself up onto the counter, while Sawyer fetched a box out of one of the cabinets. He pulled it out and presented it to her,

"I know it's not in a bottle, but don't let the box fool ya," he poured her a glass of Dharma wine, and offered her some. She took it and as he went to clink his own glass against hers, she hesitated, and he cocked an eyebrow at her,

"What?"

"Find it awfully suspicious you offerin' me liquor while Elle and the boys are in the next room," she snidely commented, "you should be tryin' to warm up to her, Sawyer, not me."

"Aww, hell, Freckles," he shook his head, "you were never good at this sort'a thang," he laughed, "the only woman I'll be warmin' up is in that room ov'r there," he pointed with his glass.

"Now spit it out, what is it you want?"

"You're right, Sawyer," Kate faltered, "I want to use you for something."

"That wasn't so hard, now was it," he look amused, as he squatted down on a chair.

Kate joined him at the table and began to discuss her plan, but before she could finish, Sawyer held up a finger,

"Wait a tick," he took a swig of the wine, "does Elle know anything about this?"

"Not a clue," Kate lied. She lied about Elle not knowing and about Elle standing right outside the kitchen doorway, listening in on the plan. Elle crept silently back to Sammy and Aidan after hearing Sawyer's glass hit the table,

"Good."

It was now time for Elle's cards to be dealt in.

XXX

Elle heard Kate leave and she could hear Sawyer going through the living room bookcases searching for something. Most likely a game to tie Locke over. If it was what Kate and she had planned, he was searching for backgammon. She heard a loud crash and Sawyer shout a few expletives, which caused Aidan to let out a few cries of his own,

"Aww, come now," she wiped his tears, "my little spit fire's not going to cry at every lil thing that goes bump in the night is he?" Aidan calmly soothed at his mother's voice to which Elle simply smiled. Elle could smell Sawyer before he even entered the bathroom. Holding a board game, he watched as she lifted Aidan out of a wash basin from the sink and wrapped him in a towel and placed him in a basket while she carefully laid Sammy into the warm water. He noticed Aidan's raven black hair, still a bit wet, as he laid staring at his mother, sucking on his thumb.

"I didn't scare him," Sawyer broke the silence, "did I?"

"He's tougher than he looks," Elle remarked, neither answering his question nor denying it.

"Yeah, well," Sawyer coughed, "I'm gonna go and see if the Colonel wants to play a game." He shook the board game and raised his eyebrows twice. Elle paid no attention, as she rinsed the bubbles off Sammy's head and ran a washcloth in-between his toes.

"Have a smoke, while I'm at it too," Sawyer was irritated now, "don't want to smoke in the house." That caught Elle's attention,

"Boys day out," she observed, "fellas night in," she turned to stare at him, "looks like you're falling right back into your niche."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" He was irate.

"Means don't expect me to wait up." She turned her back to Sawyer and bit her lip from saying anything else.

XXX

Sawyer stormed out of the house, running a hot hand through his hair. Fumbling through the pockets of his jeans, he cursed, "Sonofabitch!" He left his smokes in that goddamned yellow picture perfect Brady Bunch house. Never you mind, his conscience kept him on track, you've got a con to get to. Meanwhile back at the house, Elle had a lump the size of Texas in her throat as she heard Sawyer slam the front door. She didn't want to say those things but for their plan to work, she to play her part. She had only wished Sawyer, with all his experience in the confidence way of life, would have been able to call her out on it.

"God damn him," she dropped the washcloth into the water, splashing water accidently into Sammy's eyes. He kicked her and then a fountain of baby pee sprayed her singlet.

"Oh, sticking up for your daddy are you?" She tickled his feet, "Stinker." He cooed as she rewashed him and tossed her tank top in the hamper.

"Hamper," she couldn't grasp the word.

Wondering if Kate was alright breaking out Miles, while Sawyer stalled Locke, she finished up her nightly chores, which included feeding the boys, running some light laundry, another concept she hadn't quite gotten used to, but was managing and finding quite convenient, and as she had time to spare earlier, realized she was in Juliet's house, of all houses. She found other useful items; a breast pump, which, although not the most pleasant contraption, it saved feeding two boys at once, and she found some bottles, in boxes, dusty, never used which, proved that Juliet hadn't lied about the women on the island. Washing them off and sanitizing them in the dishwasher, she had a few bottles of breast milk for her boys. After showering, clothing herself and her boys, she hefted them in their basket that doubled as a bassinet and made her way over to Claire and Hurley's. She stumbled upon them playing a second hand game of Sorry, which Elle found ironic in so many ways; she wouldn't dare mention, and asked if she could join in. Starting the game over, she waited until the game was finished, making sure she used up enough time for an alibi. After all, she had to come through on her threat to Sawyer. She wouldn't be awake when he came back from Kate's Long Con.

XXX

Kate did as she had planned. Pulling the ace from up her sleeve, she grabbed Miles and turned the tables on Locke. Instead of bringing Ben to Miles, she brought Miles to Ben. At the same time, Sawyer was on the other side of the barracks, luring Locke to the boathouse, insisting that Kate was breaking out Ben. She had under fifteen minutes at most and time was eluding them fast. Breaking into Locke's house, she dragged Miles down to the basement, shot the lock off the door, and revealed Miles to an unexpecting and alarmed Ben.

"You have one minute," she shouted, spittle flew out of her mouth as her eyes flitted from Miles to the stairwell that led up to the door where any moment she knew Locke would come, armed and angry.

"A little privacy," Miles insisted, to which Kate peppered him, "fifty-five seconds!"

She overheard their conversation and was alarmed to hear that Miles' reason for wanting to see Ben was to blackmail him for a rough sum of $3.2 million dollars. This is what I brought him here for, she cursed herself, rage built up, as she watched for Locke. Infuriated with Miles, she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the hallway closing the door on Ben.

"Time to go!" She threw him up against the wall to which he looked at her and uttered something kinky to which she gripped her hand tighter around his throat.

"You got your meeting, now I want my answer!"

"We got your name when you called the freighter. Of course we know about you and everybody else on the 815 manifest."

"Then prove it," she tightened her grip even more so, never blinking her eyes.

"Your name is Katherine Anne Austen, and you're wanted for murder, fraud, arson, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember. You're a fugitive. You got caught in Australia and the feds were bringing you back. So yeah, we know. If I were you, I'd stay right here, on the island. Who knows, maybe you didn't survive the crash." He said with a sinister, wink.

Kate knew it all along, but she had to hear it, she and Elle were alike in so many ways, it was frightening. They had to see or hear it for things to be real. They needed tangible evidence. However, she had one more question, and she wasn't letting up on her grip, to which Miles was struggling with.

"You got your answer," he was gasping, "now let me go."

"One more," Kate reminded him.

"You said you got everyone's information?"

"Yes," Miles nodded, "everyone."

"Then tell me about Elizabeth Grecco."

Miles rattled on about Elle. Elizabeth Grecco, hates going by Elizabeth, foster child, in and out of multiple homes, abused, tough life, even tougher kid, worked for a crime boss, wanted for murder back in the states, is a con artist, one of the best, was cleared for one murder in self defense, has had a miscarriage, never sick a day in her life.

"Anything else?" Miles asked, to which Kate, as stunned as she was to find out about Elle's history pressed on, at Elle's request.

"She had a step sister," to which Mile's eyes showed some sign of humanity.

"Lily," he nodded, "she's sixteen now, Elle saved her from an abusive step father, she's well, troubled, but well. If you ask me, anyone who witnessed the death of a loved one on that flight is headed down to Anti-Depressant-Ville."

"Come on," Kate pulled on his roped hands, and headed up the stairs but a light from the door shown in their faces and two shadowy figures blocked their egress. Locke and Sawyer stood atop the stairwell. Locke, irritated, shouted down to Kate,

"Go back to your house Kate!"

"John, this has nothing to do with you!" she attempted to clear the air.

"Go back to your house Kate!"

Kate guiltily walked up the stairs and past a knowing Sawyer who just shook his head as if to say, just go back to Elle and don't say another word. She feigned guilt so well, that who was to say she felt guilty about anything at all. Her plan worked. Now she would have answers for Elle. Damn the consequences of her actions.

XXX

Elle lay in bed unable to sleep waiting for Sawyer to make his way back home. She heard the front door open, but it wasn't Sawyer's footsteps that approached, but Kate's, whose slipped past her bedroom door and made for the spare bedroom. Elle sighed, knowing Kate had been caught, but where was Sawyer? Elle wanted to speak to Kate but didn't want to chance it. They would converse later. Seconds turned to minutes which turned to hours, until Elle heard the bedroom door open and sensed Sawyer's presence. She could hear him tossing his jeans onto the floor into a crumpled heap along with his shirt, trying ever so cautiously to be quiet. Slipping into the bed, she felt his warmth immediately and tried to control her breathing but it was no use. He knew she was awake. Her back was turned to him, but she could sense that he wasn't attempting to sleep. He let out a sigh and reached for her waist. Elle rolled over and noticed he was focused on a cobweb on the ceiling.

"Twice," he mumbled, never taking his eyes off the ceiling.

"Twice?" Elle found her voice, it was rough and a bit dry.

"Twice you pulled a con over on me," he rolled onto his side and looked her in the eyes, "and with Kate!"

"God damn!" he half whispered, half snickered, "The look on Locke's face was worth every second of it."

"I'm sorry, James," Elle caressed his cheek with the palm of her hand, "but I needed to find out something, so did Kate."

"What did you need to find out so bad that you couldn't just ask me for help?" His eyes pleaded.

"Those people, they know things about us, about what's waiting for us," Elle shivered, "I needed to know if Lily was alright."

"And is she?"

"From Kate's immediate return to her room," Elle scrunched her nose, "I have no idea."

"Johnny boy was pissed," Sawyer kissed her forehead, "he sent her to her room with no dessert."

"The morning isn't lookin' so bright now," Elle frowned, as she inched into Sawyer's chest.

"We'll get through it," he whispered into her hair as he inhaled the sweet smell of melons, "together, no more secrets, ya hear?"

She heard, but she didn't answer, afraid of what her response would result in. She silenced herself and fell asleep in Sawyer's embrace, dreading what the morning would bring. Her gut was speaking in riddles, the air was thick with dread, and the babies were the only things that kept her sane in all the chaos that surrounded them at the barracks. At least they were perfect.

Chapter 9 *And although he is nothing in the scheme of my years, it just serves to bludgeon my futile tears, and I'm not use to this, I observe, I don't chase, so now I'm stuck with consequences, thrust in my face.*Amy Winehouse

Morning did come with consequences, for both Kate and Elle, only Elle's were unexpected. Rising early, Elle showered, the guilt and lies, she scrubbed off her skin, until tiny red dots began to appear on her flesh. She could hear Sawyer stirring in bed and moments later, she heard him talking with the boys. Her heart, enamored with love, dropped as he shouted for her,

"Elle," his voice morning fresh, "somethin' ain't right."

Elle scrambled out of the bathroom, her jeans unzipped, her hair soaking wet, her blue and white striped button down haphazardly buttoned only halfway, her bra exposed as she ran towards the bed where Sawyer had the bassinet. She scanned it, noticed that Sammy was wide awake, his green eyes, alarmed and darting to and fro, while Aidan, was still and sound in Sawyer's arms.

"He's clammy," Sawyer tilted his head down to their fragile Aidan, "he's hardly openin' his eyes, I…" his voice dropped, as did Elle's heart, it felt as it fell to the bottom of her stomach.

"Let me see him," she reached for him, "maybe we just had them too close, too many blankets," she attempted to deny that anything was wrong with her child.

"He's sick, Elle," Sawyer's voice dropped an octave, his brows furrowed, unsure of what to do, but he didn't know how to face it, "he needs a doc," he cursed, "something we sure as hell don't have here."

"This can't be," Elle rocked Aidan, taking him to the bathroom, running a cool damp cloth over his forehead, "this wasn't supposed to happen."

"What are you goin' on about," Sawyer came up behind her with Sammy in his arms, "what wasn't supposed to happen?"

"This," she pointed to Aidan, "him, the both of them, me, he's sick because of me, because of what they did to me." Elle was frantic, her hand flying back and forth as she pointed to the two boys and herself. Sawyer hadn't liked seeing this side of her and only knew it would get worse if he didn't do something fast. He took her gently by the elbow and guided her back to the bed, sitting her down; he took the cloth and placed it on the back of her neck to cool her off. She shook it off, swatting him away. He did his best to ignore her rejection, but his patience ran short these days.

"Maybe it's just a cold," Sawyer suggested, "like when Aaron got sick," he reminded her, when Claire insisted it was the rare fever that would take her child's life, and she needed a vaccine to save him.

"What would you know about it?" Elle snapped, biting back her words.

"I wouldn't," Sawyer muttered, angered that the more he tried to help, the less she was receptive, "but I'm sure his daddy would." Cussing himself, he knew he couldn't take back what he had just said.

Stunned, Elle, snapped out of her craze and looked at him with her molten chocolate eyes,

"What did you just say?"

"Thought ain't cross your mind?" he realized he was already in trouble, couldn't back down now, "Look at him!" He pointed to Aidan who lay motionless in Elle's arms.

"He looks nothin' like me!" Sawyer placed Sammy into the bassinet, afraid of Elle's reaction, more so, afraid of what he might do.

"That bastard, Ben, really did a number on you, James," Elle spat, "I thought you were stronger than that." "Aidan's a spittin' image of me, you ass!" Sawyer just grunted in response.

"C'mon, sugar, you tellin' me, you didn't go behind my back for an afternoon delight with the good 'ole Doc after what I did to you?" She knew he was referring back to the day in the jungle with Ana-Lucia.

"I sure as hell remember the way he would be lookin' at you," Sawyer dug the wound deeper, recalling his own jealousy and guilt before he left on the raft. Those moments Jack and Elle would take their jogs on the beach, that intimate moment Jack and Sawyer shared where Jack had insisted Sawyer was lucky to have Elle in his life. Those little things all added up in this moment, even though they probably meant nothing.

To his shock and dismay, Elle backhanded him across the face, the sting echoing off the walls of their bedroom. Elle's silence said it all. Sawyer rubbed his face and smirked,

"That's what I thought, Princess."

With one hand, Elle grabbed what she could and threw it into a knapsack, and stood up to leave. She looked back at Sawyer who was now holding Sammy in his arms. She debated on whether or not to take both boys with her, but the trek was long and tedious and she needed to get to the beach fast. It'll serve him right, she thought to herself, give him some father-son time; she refused to show any emotion. She walked over to Sammy, gently kissed him on the forehead and whispered,

"You be good for your daddy, you hear?" Sammy reached up and grabbed one of her curls.

"Yeah baby," she pulled his grip free, "Mama loves you too."

As she turned to walk to the door, Sawyer spoke, his voice low, his words, had no more fight to them,

"Eye for an eye, Elle," he waited for her to turn around, but when she didn't, he continued, "for all it matters, I still love 'em both."

With her hand on the doorknob, Elle bit her lip, and spoke to the door,

"There's breast milk in the fridge," she turned the knob, "goodbye James."

Pulling the door open with force, Aidan's usually light weight felt unbearably stony in the wrap that he lay in, while she swung the knapsack over her shoulder. She was greeted by three wide eyed eavesdroppers, one, his bushy eyebrows and cheeks blushed with embarrassment, the other, her petite frame and clouded blue eyes, fought back tears, knowing her best friend was about to go on a reckless mission, the other, a woman who was shunned amongst them, was packed and ready to go, looked to Elle with pained eyes.

"Another day," Elle attempted to make light, "another drama", but Claire silenced her with a hug,

"You have to go," she encouraged her, "he needs help." To which Claire ushered her off to Hurley who embraced her into a bear hug,

"Dude," he squeezed tightly, as Elle managed to keep Aidan at arm's length, "come back in one piece."

Elle gave Hurley a peck on the cheek, to which he blushed again, and whispered she'd be back as soon as she could, turned to Kate and uttered,

"Let's get goin'." She never once looked back in on Sawyer, knowing one look at Sammy, she'd have second thoughts.

Sawyer scrambled to the doorway, which Hurley had blocked with his oversized frame, put a palm out and simply stated,

"Dude, let them go."

"I ain't in the mood, Hugo," Sawyer attempted to pile through him, but it was no use, Hurley was an impenetrable force to be reckoned with. Hurley gently ushered him back into the room and sat him on the bed. Sawyer just wrung him head in his hands as Sammy lay in his lap. After a moment, Sawyer looked up at Hurley and made a face,

"Hey, Monte…Hugo," he caught himself, as he dangled Sammy over the bed, "any clue as to how to change this thing?"

"Dude," he shrugged and looked to Claire for assistance, who mumbled, an incoherent, "Where's Charlie when you need him," and handed Aaron over to Hurley.

"I'll show you," she laid Sammy onto the bed, while showing Sawyer how to remove and clean a dirty diaper. Sawyer watched on, in embarrassment mostly, knowing that Claire and Hurley had heard every word of Elle and his argument earlier. Claire wasn't one to intrude, but Sawyer didn't know how to act in front of her. He knew how much Elle treasured her, so he felt he owed it to her, to make amends. As he handed her a new cloth diaper, he cleared his throat,

"You heard all that?"

"Thin walls," Claire shrugged, as she maneuvered the cloth under and over the tiny behind of Sammy, fastening it with ease. Sawyer grunted,

"Thick skin," meaning Elle, to which Hurley patted him on the shoulder.

"You better hope so, man," he handed over Aaron to Claire as she presented a clean and bright eyed Sammy to his father, "for the sake of that one there."

XXX

As Elle and Kate made their way out of the house, they were stopped by a vigilant Locke. He had one hand on his hip while he placed a palm out stopping them in their tracks.

"Elizabeth," he gestured, to Aidan, "is something the matter?"

"I don't have time to explain, John," Elle attempted to go around him, but he stopped her from exiting.

"Make time," he serenely smiled, but Kate stepped forward.

"Aidan's sick, John," she pointed to the baby, her voice laden with haste, "so we're taking him back to the beach, where our doctors are."

"If you leave," Locke prepared to threatened Elle, but she stared at him with her dark, cold, eyes,

"Threaten me, banish her," Elle stared him down, "but guarantee this, John, I will be back for my family, you won't stop me."

Locke threw down his hands as well as his guard as he watched Elle and Kate trek past the line that separated the barracks from the jungle and they disappeared into the dawn's diminishing light. Elle and Kate made headway into the jungle and quickly found their tracks that would lead them back to the beach where they would soon find refuge and hopefully medical attention for Aidan. Leaving at the time of day that they did, it would take about a day and a half's journey, but with their tracking skills, their agility, and their love of running, Kate joked, they should be able to cut it down some. Kate admired Elle's tenacity with John and her drive to fight for her children. It came as no shock that of all the things she wanted to learn from Miles, she would want to know the well being of a step sister she once had. Kate and Elle kept a steady pace as they hiked through the brush stopping every now and then to take a breather and for Elle to check on Aidan. There was, however, no change in his condition, which caused Elle to quicken her steps, leaving Kate to hasten her footwork. Who would have know someone was faster than me, Kate shook her head as she chucked her water bottle quickly into her knapsack and kicked dust as she caught up to Elle and Aidan.

"Hey," she caught her breath, "you ever ran a marathon when you were back in the states?"

"Nah," Elle shook her head, "just had to know when to dodge a few creeps every now and then."

"Yeah," Kate agreed, "it always seems to catch up to you somehow, huh?"

"What's that," Elle's mind was somewhere else, jumping from Sawyer to Juliet, flip flopping back and forth to the barracks where she left Sammy to the beach where she'd come face to face with Jack.

"Guilt," Kate deadpanned.

Elle stopped in her tracks and spun to face Kate.

"You think I'm running back to the beach out of guilt?" Elle threw a hand up in the air.

"No," Kate shook her head, "I think you're running back to the beach for answers and to save your son," but she dodged Elle's eyes for a split second, "but I know when a person's running from something Elle, believe me."

"We're all guilty of something, aren't we?" Elle turned her back, "I mean, you're a fugitive, am I right?"

"And you're a con, wanted for murder, am I not right?" Kate shot back, on the defense. Plus you slept with Jack, she wanted to accuse but she thought better of it.

Elle walked on, thinking back to the night she had pulled the trigger, on that bleak night where she had murdered Sully, where she had miscarried in a darkened alley, all because of a con. She had her reasons, as she was sure Kate had her reasons. Kate must have found out about her life from Miles. She sent her there to find out about Lily and Kate came back with more than enough information to hold over Elle's head if they ever did get off the island. Then again, Elle thought to herself, so did she.

"You had your reasons," Elle turned back around, "didn't you?"

"We all have our reasons," Kate's face blanched, "it's the consequences we have to live with afterwards that follow us wherever we go."

"Miles came prepared," Elle turned the tables on her, "a little black book with all our information?"

"Pretty much," Kate shrugged, "he's a bug, just like Ben."

"So did you find out," Elle's voice quivered, "about Lily?"

"Miles said she's well, about sixteen," Kate began to which Elle nodded and mouthed that the age would be about right, "but that she's troubled."

"Troubled," Elle's left brow raised, "troubled how?"

"He didn't elaborate," Kate began to move onwards, leaving Elle to watch her back.

Elle noticed the slight changed in Kate's demeanor and brought a hand to her forehead, slightly smacking herself. Kate was standing outside the door as she and Sawyer were arguing; about Jack, about Elle sleeping with Jack. Running from guilt, Elle should have seen it coming, that's what Kate was alluding to. Not her past, but her most recent trysts. It was all making sense to her now, the little side comments, the one that stuck out like a sore thumb, those two look nothing alike, referring to Sammy and Aidan. Kate was suspicious all along. Now she had fuel to that fire.

"Kate," Elle called out to her, "he loves you, you know?" Kate half tripped on her own two feet at Elle's words.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Jack," Elle brushed past her, "it was always you."

Elle told her about the day they were hiking towards the radio tower, after Sawyer had left her, after he had abandoned her, and how upset she was. Jack had stopped to ask her if she and the baby were alright and then told her something she wouldn't forget. He told her Sawyer didn't mean what he told her when his harsh words to Elle about not watchin' him leave were shot to her heart and when Elle questioned how he would know such a thing, Jack's response to her was, Sawyer was trying to protect to, just like I was protecting Kate when I told her not to come back for me; he loves you. Kate wanted to rip out Elle's hair, wanted to scream, "was it me, when he was screwing you", but she didn't, she held it all in, because she couldn't get past the fact that Elle just told her that Jack had loved her, all along.

XXX

Chapter 10 Part 1 *You better not blink! For consequence is a bigger word than you think. It's bigger than you or me, you or me*Incubus

Daylight was leaving them rather abruptly as the sky began to turn the color of a fleshy mango as the sun set before them. Neither a bird nor insect made a sound as the echoes of broken twigs snapped and ricocheted off nearby caverns and hills. As both Elle and Kate trudged on, Kate could have sworn she heard Aidan take a breath and sigh, a small whimper from his lips. Relief rushed over her like the waves of the ocean, but when she caught up to Elle, she found it wasn't Aidan's cries at all; it was Elle, doing her best, to hide her fragility. Unsure of how to approach her, she tentatively reached for Elle's trembling shoulders and rested a warm hand to soothe her. Slowly, Elle's body began to relax, but the tears began to rush, a tidal wave of emotion, sending Elle over the edge as she collapsed to the earthen floor, nearing exhaustion, nearing the end of her rope.

"I…can't…do…this…," she stammered, thrusting Aidan into Kate's unexpecting arms, a rigid receiver, of an even stiffer child. Kate stood over Elle, her jaw slackened, as Aidan lay still as a marble statue in her unnatural grasp.

"And you think I can?" Kate didn't mean to laugh, but it wasn't a Kodak moment, she wasn't the mothering type. She killed her own father for Christ's sake.

Elle looked up to her, her sunken eyes, empty, if she had any emotion left in her, she would have been witty, but she just blankly stared at Kate, and shrugged.

"Huh," Kate breathed out, "I expected more from you."

Elle questioned her with her eyes, looking up to her from the ground, defeated, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, rocking back and forth.

"More?"

"Yes, more," Kate echoed, "more fight, more gravitas, more passion, more kick ass now, ask questions later, more…," Kate stomped her foot for emphasis, "you!"

"That's just it," Elle whispered, "I don't know how much more I have."

"Just shut up," Kate's voice was firm and she was getting tired of Elle's self pitying, "you can sit on your ass the rest of the night for all I care, but I'm taking Aidan to the beach."

"Meet us there, if you want to." Kate turned her back on Elle, leaving her sitting on the cold, gritty, jungle dirt, to wallow in her self doubt. Kate would have sworn the Elle she knew would have been biting at her heels moments later, snickering some wise ass comment about how she didn't know how Kate did it, but it was just what she needed to get her ass back into gear, but to Kate's chagrin, Elle never did. Kate, probably frightened for one of the few times in her life, stared down at the little person in her arms, his breathing shallow, his forehead moist, his cheeks, rosy with fever and sighed,

"I'll get you to the beach," she picked up speed, glancing back into the dark, dreary jungle, "with or without her."

XXX

Daylight was breaking and Kate had stumbled upon the small rippling stream that would lead her to the cerulean waves of the sandy shore. She had run all night, just taking small breaks every few minutes to take a drink and to moisten Aidan's drying lips. Like hell she had any breast milk, but she knew the child needed fluids, and water was all she had. So she wrung small droplets of water onto his lips which to her amazement his tiny tongue flicked at the droplets like it was sugarcane. Relieved that he was showing some signs of alertness, she pressed on even harder until she heard something, or was it someone, rustling in the nearby trees. Light footsteps running in their direction were picking up speed, the person's breath becoming heavier and distinct as they approached. Kate ducked behind a bush, camouflaging herself and Aidan and as the person came closer, she grabbed a piece of timber and inched it into the person's pathway, causing them to trip and go sailing into the air. The person's choice of words which carried on the breeze, brought Kate to her feet with eyes wide in shock and regret,

"Sonnnn-offff-aaaa-biiiitch!"

Elle somersaulted and landed lithely on her two feet hands ready to defend herself and when she saw her two 'assailants' she couldn't help but laugh.

"You have got to be kidding me!" she pointed at Aidan and then to Kate.

"I have one tiny breakdown, one, and this is how you repay me?"

"I'm so sorry," Kate ran over, making sure Elle was alright, to which Elle batted her away, "I heard footsteps…I thought it may be…" she sighed and looked down at Aidan, "I got all instinctual."

"Yeah," Elle smirked, "a kid will do that to ya."

Elle reached for Aidan, to whom Kate gladly handed over, but with a bit of reluctance, Elle noticed as Kate shielded her eyes. Elle looked outward and nodded with her head and told Kate that the beach was just a few yards away.

"I can smell the water," Elle inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, "I missed that smell."

"Let's go," Kate nudged her, "before you have another breakdown."

"What," Elle winked, "are you sayin' you're going to hold me back if I see Juliet?"

Kate didn't say a word, because at one point in her life, she didn't know what she would have done if she was in Elle's shoes, if the fate of her children were in the hands of another, if their lives were mere experiments, if their lives were just conditional rather than based on nurture, love, and a mutual bond with both their mother and father. Father. The word hit Kate like a ton of bricks. As she was sure it hit Elle as well. She didn't trust Juliet, neither did Elle, of that she was certain they could both agree on. She didn't agree on the testings or the fact that Juliet may have put Elle into certain situations in hopes to produce more offspring as a result for her own prosperity. Kate had made her decision.

"No," Kate wrapped her arm within Elle's, "I'm just sayin' that there better be enough people to hold us both back."

XXX

Elle and Kate made there entrance to the beach and were shocked to find it all a bit too familiar, yet distant at the same time. For one thing, Elle thought to herself, her best friend and the rest of her family were nowhere to be found, but on the other hand, as Sun and Jin came running towards them, a glimmer of what was appeared before her.

"You've come back," Sun's smile instantly turned sour as she looked down at Aidan. Jin picked up on her forlorn expression.

"Baby's sick?" he asked Elle.

"Yes," she whispered, "very."

"You have come for Jack?" Sun inquired as she followed Elle's eyes.

"Not exactly," Elle began to walk towards the doctor.

Standing around a small fire, their backs to her, Jack was kneeling, stirring something in a small pot, while Juliet offered a mug out to him. Elle had to chuckle a bit. If only they knew, she was sipping out of Juliet's very own coffee mug only days ago. The campsite began to crowd around the small campfire and before long, Jack and Juliet's cozy coffee break had turned quite claustrophobic. Turning around, Juliet dropped her tin cup, which splattered and fizzled as it hit the flames, her mouth agape. Two others, who were sitting around the fire, stared on. One, Elle had already met; Charlotte. The other, was Daniel Faraday. At the mention of her name, Daniel's head tilted to the side and for a moment, a small smile appeared on his lips. As quickly as it appeared though, it faded. Elle paid no attention to him.

"Elle!" Jack rushed over, "What's wrong?"

Elle averted his question with a stern gaze towards Juliet and pointed a finger, "Ask her!"

"Let me take a look at him," Jack offered, lifting Aidan out of Elle's arms, taking note of his conditions. Juliet watched as Jack walked off with Aidan in his arms towards a tent, but Elle did not follow. She stood sentry, as did Kate, waiting Juliet's move.

"Juliet!" Jack called, "I need you in here!"

Juliet hesitated; her foot inched forward, and then stopped. Elle smirked. Juliet looked at her with cautious eyes before stepping forward again. This time, Elle coughed. This startled Juliet, who appeared to trip on her own footing. Kate nudged Elle and whispered,

"Don't you want her to be at her best when examining Aidan?"

"I've witnessed her at her best," Elle's voice was loud enough for Juliet to hear, "she works better when the fear of God's in her."

"You're not God, Elle," Kate reminded her, to which Elle shook her head no, but then pulled out a 9mm.

Brandishing it against the small of Juliet's back, she pushed her to walk.

"Funny, how God and a gun, can have the same effect on people."

XXX

Chapter 10 Part 2

XXX

Juliet had her hands raised as if she was being held up for money, if only, she thought to herself, if only she could hand over to her all that Elle had come looking for, to fix her problems. She had the answers, or so she imagined this day might come, where her tests may prove fallible, but she had hoped it wouldn't have come to this. Not after all the sweat, toil, lies, and trials she had overcome, deceiving and eventually gaining their trust. Especially, Juliet thought to herself, gaining Jack's trust. As Elle shoved her into the tent, the rest of the camp had slowly followed them, like spectators at an execution, Elle caught a glimpse of Rose and Bernard, who shook their heads disapprovingly, to which Elle ignored, a bead of sweat, cascading down her spine, causing her to shiver. Was it their parental look of shame that momentarily made her lower the nozzle of the gun or was it the look in Rose's eyes that reminded her of a stepmother she once had, who would have told her to keep on fighting, Elle wouldn't have known, for in that instance, Juliet swung around and had the gun turned on Elle, with Kate in the middle. Gasps from the outsiders could be heard as the flap of the tent lowered and shielded them from view, leaving them with only marionette like silhouettes teetering back and forth. That was until they heard Jack's voice, stern and mighty,

"Juliet, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Her hand was shaking; her eyes darted from Jack's face to the two women in front of her, astonished that he had admonished her in front of them.

"She had the gun on me, Jack!" Her voice was shrill, shaking as much as her hand was, and Elle feared it might go off, knowing that she had taken the safety off when she pressed it against her back only moments ago.

"She had every right to," Jack was now standing at Juliet's side, his hands outward, as if he was offering penance, "Aidan is very ill, in fact, from what I can deduce, I think he may have infantile pneumonia."

"That can't be," Juliet shook her head, "that can't be right, Jack, check again." She turned the gun on Jack, but as he had expected she would have done, Kate had sideswiped her leg, which knocked her unsteady, the gun flew out of her hand, landing in Jack's. He drew it on her. Elle stood in shock as she ran to Aidan. The idea of a free flying, loaded gun, around her son, in the hands of Juliet frightened her, at least she knew in her own hands, she had control.

"No, Juliet," Jack ordered her, "you check him," he pointed with the gun, "after all, you are the fertility doctor."

Elle scanned Juliet's face and knew that her face was boiling with rage, but attempted to remain calm, but Juliet's words ate at her,

"What did you mean when you said that Jack's diagnosis couldn't be right?"

Juliet eyed Elle and sighed, knowing she was caught.

"This isn't the time to lie to me, Jules," Elle smirked, "Sayid already told me of your plan, of my rare condition, of the conditions that you put me through, of the tests you had run on me, on my children."

"Now why, in God's name," Elle dug her heels into the hard sand, her fists curled and banged onto the makeshift table, "is this happening to my son?"

However, instead of answering her question, Juliet answered hers with another of her own, causing Jack and Kate to look at one another in utter disbelief.

"As a child, were you ever sick," Juliet asked, "think about it, a cold, a runny nose, ever hospitalized, a fever, sore throat, anything?"

Elle stared at her, she wanted to strangle her, but as she reached for her, she retracted her hands and thought back for a moment at something Lily had once told her when they were sitting in a doctor's office, because Lily always seemed to come down with strep throat.

"How come you never catch my cooties, Elle?" Lily's usually bright blue eyes, now clouded over from the antibiotics, looked up to her from their stepmother's arms, questioning her.

"Because I'm Superwoman, silly," Elle tickled her.

"Superwoman," Elle whispered.

"What?" Both Jack and Kate said in unison, but Juliet simply smiled, knowing what Elle's answer was.

"Elle's never been sick a day in her life," Juliet never faced them, only looking at Elle, "she has a rare auto immune system and antibodies, her own natural defense system against diseases, pair that with two uteri, and you have…," but Jack cut her off, throwing Juliet up against the wall by her neck. Upon hearing that Elle had two uteri, something inside of him snapped, something feral, something instinctual, as he looked to the tiny boy on the table, the one that reminded him of his own hospital pictures after his parents brought him home, he reacted.

"I trusted you, I stood up for you," he spat, "and after all that, you were using her to…to…," but he couldn't finish, because he could feel the bile erupting in his stomach, creeping up through his esophagus, searching for an escape route. Jack retched onto Juliet's blouse.

"It's why I was brought here," she had a singular tear in her eye, "if I could prove to Ben that I could make it happen," her voice lowered, "then I could go home."

"You're not goin' anywhere, you hear me," Elle said through tight teeth, "until you save my son."

"Then," Elle grinned, "and only then, you'll get your wish, you'll get to go home, only you'll be going home in a body bag."

Jack released Juliet when she simply nodded and mentioned that they had to trek to the Pearl Station, another hatch where there was a horde of medical supplies she had confiscated. When they questioned her about the Pearl Station, Juliet stated that it was where she would secretly meet Ben and they would gather information on them when they were in the Swan Station, the hatch that Desmond had blown up with the failsafe key. At the mention of the Swan Station, Elle and Jack both looked at one another and their stomachs turned. Kate was aware of this, yet said nothing, but Juliet wasn't as demure.

"We recorded everything that happened," she smirked, "Ben liked to use whatever he could to exploit one's weaknesses."

Elle leapt across the table and was at Jack's side where he still had Juliet cornered and right hooked her across the jaw. Juliet spat a wad of blood onto the gritty sand and shrugged.

"You want to keep throwing punches or do you want to save your son?" She tilted her head.

"It's up to you."

XXX

Rose was more than happy to look over Aidan and as Elle hugged her for what seemed to be the hundredth time, Jack pulled her off and told her that if they didn't head off soon, they'd be traveling in darkness.

"Good," Elle jested, "then she won't see it coming."

"Elle we need to talk," Jack was serious, and she knew he was, but she wasn't in the mood to talk about that night, or the fact that Aidan might be his. Right now, she just wanted Aidan to be well again.

"We are talkin' Jack," she tried to side step him, but he wouldn't allow it, reaching for her elbow, setting her neurons off like fireworks.

"Aidan," Jack let the name roll of his tongue, "what if he's mine?"

Elle stopped in her tracks and looked up to Jack, the last of the sun's rays reflecting off the back of his head like a halo.

"Yeah, Jack," she sighed, "what if?"

"You're on a one way ride out of here," she shook her head, "and I'm not splitting up my boys."

"It's as simple as that," Elle shook her head, "I've been through enough foster systems to know that you don't split up siblings, so the question is Jack, what are you going to do?"

Jack looked at her, lost in her eyes, she was afraid, she was just as lost as he was, but before he could answer her, Kate walked by, announcing that they were nearing the Pearl. He watched Kate walk off, he loved her, he had always loved Kate, no matter her past, no matter the lies, it was always her, and then gazed back at Elle and she simply nodded.

"You have to follow your heart, Jack," a tear fell, "no matter the consequences of what you leave behind."

But how can a father just leave his child behind, Jack wondered, unaware, his own father had done just that.

Juliet and Kate pulled open the hatch's door and slowly they each climbed down the ladder that lead into the Pearl. It was dimly lit, but the buzzing of the lights quickly came alight as did the snow filled screens of the computer monitors. Some had pictures, but some no longer showed anything, as Juliet pointed to one marked The Swan. Elle sighed a silent relief, but that was until Juliet popped in a tape and it began to play. At first it just showed Jack at the computer, entering the numbers, as the alarm was beeping, but them a slender figure sleeked by, his eyes following her. The four of them, mesmerized by the screen, watched in horror as Elle and Jack's one night stand plastered the black and white monitor, Elle fervently pressed the Eject button, but to no avail, nothing happened, causing Kate to utter,

"I think I'm going to be sick," as she rushed to the bathroom to her rear, slamming the door shut, retching into the age old toilet.

"You really are a bitch," Elle snapped at Juliet, "aren't you?"

"Yes," Juliet tapped at a button and as the tape slid out with ease, Jack grabbed the tape and threw it to the ground, smashing it with the heel of his boot.

"Kate," Jack knocked on the door, "Kate, please, can I come in," Jack's voice was fragile. The door cracked open and he disappeared, leaving Juliet and Elle alone.

"Who would have thought your rendezvous would have brought them closer," Juliet snickered.

"Where are these so-called miracle drugs?" Elle growled.

Juliet opened a cabinet drawer and pulled out a metal suitcase, entered a combination, and it popped open. Inside were vials of a familiar amber substance that Elle remembered all too well. Also, there were needles, both large and small, apparently for adults and children, why, Elle thought, would they need small ones, when they had no children on the island?

"When you had us caged up," Elle questioned her, "and I had passed out, you injected me…," but Juliet interjected,

"It wasn't you that was causing your illness," she closed the lid to the case, "it was Aidan."

"I was saving your child."

"But you said my body could fight off diseases, that my immune system was rare, wouldn't that pass onto my children?" Elle was confused.

"It should have," Juliet strained, "like all genetics, brown eyes trump blue eyes, right handedness trumps left handedness, etc., but it this case, whomever the donor of Aidan, is on the losing side."

"But in some cases," Juliet went on, "genetics give us a surprise, take for example you have dark eyes and Sawyer has green eyes, which somewhere down the line, someone in both of your families carries the gene for green eyes, which somehow, trumps your dark eyes, and Sawyer's light locks, get lost to your dark ones."

"Get it?"

"No."

"How does this have anything to do with Aidan?" Elle wondered.

"It explains why Aidan has both black hair and dark eyes, which neither you nor Sawyer have, but Jack does."

"Are you saying that Aidan is Jack's?" Elle's eyes widened, at the same time, the door to the bathroom opened, and Jack and Kate stood waiting for the same answer.

"I'm not saying anything, because I'm not a geneticist."

"Will we ever know?" Jack asked Juliet, to which she responded,

"There's no way to know Jack, I'm sorry," she began to climb the ladder, "we don't run blood tests on the island, nor do we have any means of paternity tests."

XXX

Jack and Kate made some torches out of tree limbs and some tattered cloth while they steadily made their way back towards the beach to save Elle's son. Elle allowed Juliet to climb that ladder with the briefcase but once she was in sight, Elle told her to hand it over. There was no way she was going to let her out of her sight knowing that Aidan's only chance was in her hands. Juliet only nodded and without reluctance, handed over Aidan's life to Elle's clammy hands. Insects swarmed around the blaze of the torches, zapping to their death, but not before some bit at the sweet nectar of their necks, legs, or whatever sweaty epidermis was showing. Swatting at the insects became like music, snap, fizzle, flick, buzz, zing, snap, fizzle, oww! This went on for what seemed like hours, the cool mist in the jungle air quickly turned to rain, distinguishing their torches and cleansing their mosquito bitten bodies.

They arrived at the tent to find a vigilant Rose, kneeling over Aidan, praying a decade of the rosaries, with Bernard at her side. The others, it so happened had all retreated to their makeshift tents. Charlotte and the other one, Daniel, were drenched, but shielded as best they could be, in the same tent as Rose and Bernard, for they had no shelter of their own.

"What are they doing in here?" Elle quickly took notice, wringing out her soggy curls and wrapping them into a loose bun.

"They had nowhere to go during this downpour," Bernard began to speak, but Elle realized she had been overdramatic, noticing a familiarity in Daniel's soft eyes.

"It's okay, really," Elle apologized, "I'm sorry, it's just…"

"Will he be okay," Daniel asked her, "did you find what you were looking for?"

She tilted her head, his voice struck a chord in her and she simply nodded as she pressed Juliet to open the briefcase. Juliet carefully inserted the small hypodermic needle into the serum and filled it to the half quarter mark and approached Aidan. Lifting his tiny, fragile, arm, she waited until Jack sterilized his arm and then she inserted the serum, as Jack patted it dry with a cotton swab. Within moments, Aidan began to come around, small gurgles could be heard, his eyes fluttered open, and he let out a small, tiny wail. His tiny hands unfurled as he reached upward and Elle grabbed out for him, taking him into her arms. Tears were falling from her eyes, as they were from everyone in the room, everyone that was, except for Juliet.

Elle smothered Aidan with kisses, his cries slowly turning into tiny coos, his eyes focused on her face, his once lifeless body, was now cooling down, a fever no longer in his veins. A small smile curled his now pinkish lips. Elle coolly turned her head towards Jack and then to Juliet.

"I don't know what to say…"

Juliet didn't say a word. Elle then turned her cool gaze back to Jack and with a fire in her eyes, "then again," she uttered three words,

"Tie her up."

Chapter 11 *But seeing is believing, all consequences fly*Melissa Etheridge

XXX

See how well you handle being on the other end, Elle had to raise her voice over the raging winds as she left Juliet tied to a tree. Jack looked at her, a tad nostalgic, as he recalled the day that both he and Sayid had tied Sawyer to a tree in the jungle. It was as if they had regressed to their primitive days on the island.

"I know what you're thinking," she shouted over the winds, "and I don't give a damn if she gets pneumonia and rots."

"Let's get back to the beach," Jack pressed her on. Juliet's cries were drowned by the winds and the rains that poured forth from the heavens, but her face, scowling at both Jack and Elle, was imprinted on both their minds as they headed back to the beach.

XXX

The next day, the rain had dried up all tears and memories of the day before; however, Juliet was nowhere near as dry as the rest of them were. Once Elle had ordered her to be tied up, amidst the array of stunned gasps from Charlotte and Daniel, Elle led Juliet outside to a tree and there they tied her up, to suffer the downpour; to relish in what she had done.

Elle couldn't help but notice that someone was burning two holes into the back of her head, making it impossible for her to sleep much longer.

"Got a problem, Char?" Elle turned over, to find Charlotte sitting cross-legged on the floor of the tent, twirling her thumbs.

"What is it with you," she huffed in her stuffy English accent, "half the lot of you want off this bloody island while the other half want to kill one another."

"G-g-give her a break, Charlotte," Daniel stuttered, "put yourself in her shoes for a minute."

"Right, Dan," Charlotte snickered, "that's the whole reason we're here isn't it, yeah?"

"So you say," Jack had walked in, looking a bit distraught, glancing at Elle, and then walking over to check on Aidan. Kate had followed him soon after. She had gone to check on Juliet, leaving an exhausted Elle and recovering Aidan to rest while she and Jack shared some alone time, which included making sure Juliet had not managed to escape. Fortunately, the rains had drenched the ropes that secured her hands, making it impossible for her to unravel. Kate made sure to describe in detail to Elle, how pitiful she had looked.

"How's our little guy," Jack caught himself, his cheeks reddening, "how's the little man doin' this morning?"

"He's good," Elle paled, taking note of Jack's Freudian slip, "even ate for me."

"That's a great sign, Elle," Jack nodded, "great sign."

"What's going on, Jack," Elle propped herself up, "you walked in here, lookin' a bit troubled?"

"Sayid and Desmond have been gone for a day now," Jack looked over at Charlotte and Daniel, "and we haven't heard from them."

"Have you tried contacting the freighter," Elle inquired knowing fully that Jack had, but who knew if they could trust Charlotte, let alone, Daniel.

Charlotte stood up, agitated, but something that Elle had noticed the first time they had met, she was being elusive, and of that Elle was positive. She flailed her hands,

"I know you don't believe me doctor, but I've told you over and over again," she sighed, "I don't know anything." Jack shook his head which frustrated her even more. "You heard the same thing as I did when we called the boat. What makes you think I know anything?"

"Because," Kate interjected, "you're not worried."

"Excuse me?" Charlotte was caught off guard by Kate's statement.

"How far is the freighter?" Kate raised the question, "About forty miles off the coast? It should have taken them like twenty minutes to get there."

"So again, I ask you," Kate stepped up to Charlotte, "why aren't you worried?"

Charlotte's thin lips turned into a sly sneer and she uttered such sarcasm, Sawyer would have been taken aback, Elle thought to herself, but she quickly was relieved when Daniel out of nowhere, stood in-between the two women and mediated,

"Hey, hey," he looked at her, like a little child caught in between a marital dispute, "maybe we should just tell them."

"Tell us what?" Elle was now standing, interested even more.

"Daniel, let's not confuse anyone," Charlotte's wise mouth was condescending as ever. Elle wouldn't let her have it. She placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him kindly and spoke,

"Well, Daniel, maybe if you talk real slow, we'll be able to follow."

He nodded and then told them that their perception of how long their friends had been gone wasn't as necessarily as long as they had actually been gone for.

"What does that mean?" Jack stepped towards him.

"I told you this would be a mistake," Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"You're sayin' our days aren't really twenty-four hours on this island?" Elle's voice broke through. "Why would they be?" she laughed, "Nothing else is normal on this godforsaken island." Daniel turned to her, his eyes wide with wonder. She locked onto them, not breaking the trance, afraid if she blinked, she wouldn't be able to put a finger on why he was so familiar. But then he spoke, breaking away.

"As long as Frank flew on the bearings I gave him, if he stayed on it, it'll be fine."

"What if he didn't?" Jack always asked the questions no one else wanted to.

Daniel looked up at the doctor and then back down at his feet, "Then there will be side effects."

The satellite phone in Jack's hand began to ring at the precise moment, causing them to startle. Answering it, Jack, spoke to Sayid, first questioning his well-being, then wondering where the hell they have been. Jack repeatedly told Sayid to hold on while he put the phone on speaker, then put the phone on the table so they could all hear.

"Go ahead," Jack told him, "what's wrong with Desmond?"

"On the helicopter," Sayid's voice came over distant, yet clear, "something happened to Desmond. He doesn't appear to recognize me or know where he is."

"Side-effects?" Jack questioned Daniel, to which Elle huffed.

Elle turned to Daniel and raised an eyebrow, "Hell, I was thinking you meant nausea or heart burn."

Daniel questioned them, asking if Desmond had recently been exposed to high levels of radiation to which none of them knew a definitive answer, leaving Daniel to divert down a new path. Daniel explained to them that for some reason, that they were unable to determine the causes, when a person leaves the island only to return again, they tend to get a bit confused. Jack automatically questioned whether or not it could be amnesia, to which Daniel was adamant, that it was definitely not amnesia. Scuffling could be heard, panic had consumed both the islanders and Sayid, who was urging Desmond to talk to Daniel, for they had little time, for he couldn't hold them off for much longer. Elle was becoming furious. Why were the people on the freighter acting so aggressively towards her friends? Daniel, awkwardly as he was intelligent, asked Jack for the phone. Ordering Desmond to concentrate on his voice he asked him what year he was in. Desmond's smooth Scottish voice frantically shouted, "It's 1996!"

"Where are you, Desmond?" Daniel questioned him, "Where are you right now?"

"Um…um…I'm in some kind of sick bay…," Desmond answered to which Daniel quickly rephrased his question, "No, Desmond, where are you supposed to be, in 1996?"

"Uh, Camp Milla, it's a…Royal Scotts Regiment, it's just north of Glasgow."

Daniel was searching through his knapsack, pulling out books, tools, throwing pieces of scrap paper to the sand, mumbling, "Where is it, where is it," to which Charlotte asked him what he was rummaging for and Elle heard him reply; a journal.

"What's in this journal of yours," she began to help him, "that's going to help Des?"

"I won't believe him," he looked at her, his eyes pleading, "I need my journal, I won't believe him."

"Okay, okay," she scrunched her nose, a bit put off, "is this it?" She held up a beaten up leather journal.

"Thank you!" His face lit up, momentarily, and then he grabbed the phone and spoke to Desmond, taking him off of speaker.

As Elle and the others heard Daniel telling Desmond to take a train to meet him at Oxford University, Queens College, Physics Department, they watched in awe as Daniel paced back and forth, running a frantic hand through his curly hair. He instructed Desmond to tell him to set some "device" to 2.342 and it must be oscillating at eleven hertz. He must have repeated it several times, to which he excitedly nodded as if Desmond too, agreed on the other end. Elle and Kate exchanged worried glances that Desmond and Sayid's lives were in the hands of another mad scientist with a few berries short of a fruit salad, when Daniel said the most peculiar thing,

"If the numbers don't convince me, I need you to tell me that you know about

Eloise."

XXX

~She sat in the backseat of the old Volkswagen, the seatbelt, strapped tightly across her waist. Her tiny, hand, firmly grasped the old brass handle of the weathered suitcase that she had carried with her from foster home to foster home. It had come from one of the women from Social Services; it was an awful shade of green, with stickers of all the places the woman had traveled. That's what caught the little girl's dark, empty, eyes; the stickers, of the places she'd never go. Physically, she had never gone to Greece, or New Mexico, she had never skied the Alps, but when that man, that man they said was going to be her daddy, crept into her room, late at night, she stared at that suitcase, in the corner of her room, escaping to some distant island. This would be her third foster home. She was only six. There were over fifty stickers on that suitcase and she had visited ten different places, before they removed her. Ms. Parker said this time things would be different.

"Don't you worry," she puffed on her cigarette as the cool air blew into the backseat, "baby doll, Ms. Faraday's a good woman, I promise." She looked into the rearview mirror, dreading dropping Elle off to another foster home. It was against policy to foster one of your own case loads, but Ms. Parker had grown so fond of Elle. She never let her fall through the cracks. That's why she found her a home close by.

"I'll be close," she whispered, "always."

This caught Elle's attention.

"She have any kids?"

"A boy," Ms. Parker laughed, "a year or two older than you."

"Gross."

"I know," she chuckled, "but you'll love this, they have animals."

Elle bit her lip and brushed her curls away from her face and stared out the window. The car had stopped in front of a two story white, colonial, with blue shutters. On the porch, a tall woman with shoulder length blonde hair, blue glass eyes, and a warm smile, held the hand of a little boy, who had thick black glasses with a piece of white tape holding them together down the middle.

Elle and Ms. Parker slowly made their way up the walkway, Elle never taking her eyes off the little boy. He had the warmest eyes. Those glasses, though, boy were they the silliest thing she had ever seen!

"H-h-hi!" he stammered, "I'm Daniel."

"Uh, hi," Elle stood behind Ms. Parker's leg, staring out at her new family.

Ms. Faraday both knelt down to her level and reached out her hands, to which she slowly came out from behind the safety of her social worker's fortress.

"How about we start off slow," Ms. Faraday started, "and show you your room?"

Elle bit her lip and looked up at Ms. Parker and then back at Ms. Faraday.

"Can I see the animals instead?"

Daniel jumped up and down.

"Can she?" he grabbed at his mother's hand, "Can I show her Eloise?"

"Eloise?" Elle scrunched her nose, "Who's that?"

"She's my pet hamster," he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the house, rambling on about the new wheel they just got for her, how much food she eats, and how one day, he was going to send her into the future. Elle hadn't noticed that she had finally let go of her suitcase. Maybe this time, Ms. Parker was right. Maybe, this time, it would be different.~

XXX

Elle decided she needed to get some fresh air after reliving one of her earliest childhood memories and took Aidan for a walk along the water. She absentmindedly found herself following a set of footprints towards a blossoming tree, where she saw Daniel sitting down, flipping through what appeared to be the same journal she had helped him find earlier. He didn't hear her approach and as she glanced over his shoulder, she read in his own handwriting, If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be MY constant.

As she read it over, wanting to ask him what a constant was, more so, how he had known Desmond before the island, Aidan gurgled, causing Daniel to jump, and slam his journal shut, with force.

"Elle," he cleared his throat, "I didn't know you were there."

"You don't remember me," she shook her head, "do you, Daniel?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," he brushed her off, picking up his journal, attempting to walk away. She stepped in front of him.

"Eloise," she whispered, "we built her a time machine," a small smile formed on her lips as a tear fell, "how can you forget something so memorable?"

"I-I-can't," he mumbled, "I just can't." He ran a hand through his hair, exasperated, searching her eyes, for the answers she was seeking from him.

"What's a constant, Daniel?"

"It's a pretty lengthy theory," he furrowed his brow and he looked over her shoulder.

"I have all day," she pointed to the shore line and together they walked until Elle found Daniel explaining his theory on The Constant. From what she could piece together, however, Daniel's mental capacity wasn't as solid as his physical, and she found herself feeling sorry for him. She didn't realize that the sun was setting until Daniel nudged her,

"Come on, Ellie," he helped her up, "it's getting dark."

"What did you just call me?" she tilted her head, seeing the little boy she had once known, pulling on her hand, as they made their way to their make shift tent of bed sheets and couches, flashlights ready, for story time and S'mores.

Daniel frowned, a momentary lapse in memory, shaking his head apologizing.

"Never mind," she smiled, "I must be hearing things."

"Thanks for talking," he bit at his lips, nervously, "not used to you know, just talking without the accusations."

"G'night," she turned her back, and whispered, "Danny."

Chapter 12 *Should we start it over? And give it a chance, to justify what went wrong? Or should we terminate it right over, and meet the consequences in our life?* Darren Hayes

Elle had come to a decision after a long and harrowing night; she had to go back to the barracks. Something in her gut, something she had never gone against once in her life, was telling her that no matter how much she wanted to trust the Daniel she once had known, trouble was coming. She spent the morning writing two letters, making sure to make them specific as possible without giving away too much information, if they had gotten into the wrong hands, read it over four times, realized she had been holding her breath the whole time, she exhaled and folded them over. Looking down at her sleeping son, she kissed him softly and walked out to find Jack. She found him sitting at the shoreline with Kate. She took in the sight, memorized them, closed her eyes, exhaled again, and walked towards them.

"Hey, Jack," she spoke, "can I borrow you for a minute?" She smiled at Kate, "I promise I'll have him back in five minutes."

"Go ahead, Jack," Kate reassured him, smiling up at Elle.

Taking him aside, Elle spoke to Jack for only a few minutes, as Kate watched from the beach, the water lapping at her toes. She noticed Elle was being resolute about something, but the sun bounced off a few tears, as she handed Jack a piece of paper. Finally nodding, Jack looked from Elle to Kate, placed the letters into his back pocket, hugged Elle and headed back to Kate.

"What was that about?" Kate asked, but Jack only reached for her hand, and stared out into the ocean, a tear, streaming down his face.

Before heading off, she found herself grabbing a knife from Jack's surgical table; one Locke must have left behind, stuck it into the back pocket of her jeans, and stalked into the jungle. She made her way through the maze of Banyan trees and found Juliet, struggling to keep her bloodshot eyes open. Juliet achingly craned her neck in Elle's approaching direction.

"Have you come to finish me off?" her words were raspy, as they should be, the only water she had to drink, was from the storm two nights over.

Elle reached into her back pocket, retrieving the knife, the sunlight glimmering off its blade, as she played with it in her hands,

"On the contrary," she knelt down and cut Juliet's hands free, "if I wanted you dead…," she locked eyes with Juliet, "don't you think you'd be six feet down already?"

"Then why leave me here," Juliet rubbed her wrists, feeling the blood flow back to her limbs, "only to let me go?"

"Aidan," Elle offered her a hand, "how long can he survive on that serum?"

"Truthfully?" Juliet's voice didn't waver.

Elle's dark eyes were brimming on the edge of impatience, as she shoved Juliet's fatigued body back against the very tree she had freed her from.

"Now isn't the time to lie!"

"A month, maybe less." Juliet never once took her eyes from Elle's, confirming Elle's assumptions, finalizing one of the hardest decisions she'd ever have to make. Aidan had to get off the island. Elle had to make sure of it, no matter the consequences.

Juliet and Elle spoke until they reached the beach, neither of them apologized for the pain that they each caused one another, but it was apparent that the course of action Juliet had taken wasn't what she had dreamed of doing when she had first arrived on the island. Elle had one last question for her, something had struck her and it was eating at her ever since that day in the Pearl.

"You lied about being able to do paternity tests," Elle stopped her, "a simple blood test, a little prick here, a drop of blood there, you know, don't you?"

"So do you, Elle," Juliet looked out at the beach and Elle nodded, "yeah, I do." With a sigh of relief, and with a tug of sadness in her heart, she picked up her knapsack, lifted Aidan, sat with him for a bit, kissed him, long and tenderly, handed him off to Jack, and pocketing the knife, along with her 9mm, she took a look at Rose and Bernard, who hugged her and told her to reconsider, but in all her stubbornness, she refused.

"Want some backup?" Kate offered her, "For old time's sake?"

Shaking her head, Elle told Kate differently,

"While I'd love to see Locke's face when you'd stroll up with me," Elle laughed, "I think it'd be better if you kept an eye on things here."

"Go get your boys," she whispered into her ear and shoved her along, "Sawyer's probably dying without you."

Elle began her lengthy trek back to the barracks, her mind retreating back to the beach where she left Aidan in the hands of Jack, not knowing if she'd make it back in time with the rest of her family. Knowing she wasn't anticipating Sawyer's reaction to leaving Aidan back at the beach, only pressed her on further, the fury that kept her fire burning, the fuel that kept her racing towards the barracks. She found herself running for miles without stopping for any water or food, until it began to get a bit dusk like. She stopped at a mango tree, hoisted herself up, one leg at a time, careening off a limb, grabbing two ripened fruit, she shimmied down, grateful for the knife she pilfered from Jack's tent. She fed on the sweet, fleshy, fruit, savoring its meat, resting for only minutes before heading off again. With a newfound sense of energy, she began to recognize familiar trees, and not so familiar footprints in the trails ahead of her. Stopping to scope them out, sudden dread began to cause her stomach to do somersaults. From what she could decipher, they belonged to several men, military issued boots, and from the weighted impressions they left in the dirt, they were carrying things she didn't even want to begin to imagine. From the direction they were pointing, Elle feared for her family and friends. Whoever these men were, they were heading towards the barracks and they were only about a few hours ahead of her. If she was lucky, she could detour around them, and warn Sawyer.

Chapter 13*A little grit in the eye destroyeth the sight of the very heavens, and a little malice or envy a world of joys. One wry principle in the mind is of infinite consequence.*Thomas Traherne

Elle knew if she stayed on the outskirts of the jungle, she would bypass the sonar fence, which by her calculations, that was the direction the men would be heading. She had only momentarily taken a break to recalculate her strategy when she stumbled across an open patch of greenery where an obvious struggle had ensued. Taking her gun from the waist of her jeans, she held it in front of her body, and did a sweep of the jungle, cautiously looking from her left to her right. Taking in the scene, she noticed a few stray bullets and as she climbed over a fallen stump, she brought her hand to her nose. Karl's body lay bloodied and as she checked for a pulse, she noticed to his right, Rousseau too had been shot, her body, lay prostrate on the dirt floor. Off in the distance, she heard voices, and what sounded like someone struggling against their will. Elle did a second sweep of the area and noticed something shimmering near the body of Rousseau. Kneeling down, she picked it up and immediately recognized it; it was one of Alex's earrings. She was taken hostage.

Elle immediately began to run in the opposite direction of the voices, following her instincts, and knowledge of the jungle, she would be able to outmaneuver whoever they were and make it back to the barracks within moments, if she put all she had left into her fight. All she knew was that they had killed two innocent people, one a teenager nonetheless, and taken another hostage, which only caused Elle to fear for the safety of Claire and most of all, the babies. She ran and ran, dodging copious plant life thick with barbs, scratching and pulling at her hair and skin, jumping over fallen debris and limbs, she held onto the gun, never losing her grip, never losing sight on what lay ahead. The sun began to rise, its head burning bright as it poked over the lush hills, and not a moment too soon, she saw the monotonous rows of homes; she had reached the barracks. She ran to her house, only to find it completely empty. Panic took over and she ran to Locke's house, quietly opened the door, snuck around the corner, and overheard Hurley,

"Dude, we're all gonna die."

She hadn't made it in time, Elle thought to herself. Her friends, her family, all their lives were in danger and she had only one gun, to defend them with. She was readying herself when she heard Sawyer's sweet southern drawl,

"Calm down, Chicken Little, the sky ain't fallin' just yet."

Where have I heard that before, she thought to herself, before taking another step forward to gain a better listen.

"It's his decision to make, Hugo," Locke intervened, "let's get on with it."

Elle heard what sounded like die rolling on a table and exhaled as she rounded the corner, her gun aimed steadily at the three men and Aaron who sat upon Hurley's lap.

"Risk?" Elle exasperated, "I'm out there risking my ass to get to you and you're in here literally playing the game?"

"Elle?" Sawyer jumped up, knocking the game pieces over, rushing over to her.

"You might want to lower the gun, Elizabeth," Locke attempted to smile at her.

"You might want to arm yourselves," she rebutted, "they're on their way."

"Who are you talking about?" Sawyer took her by the shoulders and shook her.

"Where's my son?" She scanned the room and caught Sawyer's eye. Noticing she was serious, he went into the back room and retrieved the bassinet that held a sleeping Sammy.

At that moment, the phone in the living room began to ring. Once, twice, three times, it rang, and as they all looked at it, amazed that it actually worked, Locke strutted towards it and picked it up. Furrowing his brow, he listened to the earpiece and hung up.

"Who was it?" Hurley asked.

"I think it was for Ben."

Elle watched as both Locke and Sawyer headed out to find Ben. Elle looked on as Hurley jiggled Aaron up and down, wondering where Claire was, and why they had let Ben wonder around the barracks alone.

"I was gone for what," Elle cocked an eyebrow, "a few days and Ben's on the loose?"

"Dude, Sawyer and I had nothing to do with that."

"Where's Claire, Hurley?" Elle motioned towards Aaron as she walked towards the window, looking out every now and then, for any sign of trespassers.

"Sleeping," Hurley sounded like he had been saying that a lot lately.

"It's not even the afternoon," Elle was worried.

"She sleeps a lot," Hurley frowned, "I think she misses C-h-a-r-l-i-e."

XXX

Sawyer and Locke entered Ben's house to the sounds of a melody being played on the piano. Interrupting Ben mid-chord, Locke questioned him,

"What's Code 14-J?"

"Where did you hear that?" Ben hit a sour note, his eyes wide in horror.

"The phone rang; I picked it up," Locke said nonchalantly, "a voice kept repeating Code 14-J."

Ben jumped to his feet, lifted the cover of the piano seat, removed a rifle, cocked it, sending a threatened Sawyer to reach for his revolver, but to his amazement, Ben handed the rifle to Sawyer.

"We need to get to the other house," he pushed past Locke and headed for the door, "it's easier to fortify and we'll be closer to the tree line."

"What are you talking about?" Locke demanded.

"They're here."

"They who?" Sawyer barked, "Elle just said the same goddamned thing!"

"Elizabeth?" Ben stopped for a split second and as Sawyer nodded yes, he threw the door open and they all ran back to Locke's house.

XXX

Elle placed the bassinet down in the back room away from windows and told Hurley to do the same with Aaron. Hurley began to question her, but she just stared him down, and he ducked his head and shuffled down the hallway to stay with the children. She found the men at the front steps arguing about an early warning system.

"Somebody tripped the panic switch at our security fence," Ben looked over his shoulder and noticed Elle, "that means one of my people's been captured."

Elle coughed and Sawyer looked up and she nodded for him to come over towards her. Before he could, however, Ben questioned how long they had debated on whether or not to tell him about the phone call. When he had heard five minutes, Ben panicked and told them they didn't have a head start.

"I was your head start," Elle was quick to the punch, "but you all were too busy playing games and tickling the ivories."

"Well, hold up," Sawyer handed the rifle off to Elle, "if we're hunkerin' down, I'm gonna go grab Frenchie and the kids."

"Don't bother," Ben instructed him, "they're safe, I sent them off yesterday."

"You bastard!" Elle squared Ben in the jaw, "You sent them to die."

"D-die," Ben wiped his mouth, "no, no, I sent them to safety; Rousseau was supposed to keep my daughter safe."

"She's the only one who still is," Elle spat, telling them how she had come across the bodies of Karl and Rousseau. She took the earring out of her pocket and showed Ben. He immediately recognized it as Alex's.

"You're sure she's still alive?" Ben looked hopeful.

"Struggling," Elle nodded, "but alive; I could hear her."

"I'll grab Claire," Sawyer holstered his gun into the back of his jeans, to which Ben told him there wasn't any time.

"I'll make time."

"Sawyer," Elle went to go with him, but he stopped her.

"You git in that house and stay with Sammy," he kissed her, long and tenderly, "I'll get Claire."

"Sawyer," she called off as he began to run off towards Claire's house, he turned back, but bullets began to ricochet around them, and Elle felt Locke's hands grab her arm and pull her into the house, the door barricading her from the chaos.

Ben and Locke had already begun to build a wall constructed out of couches, bookcases, tables, and whatever else they could use from the house, in front of the doorway and windows. Hurley emerged from the back room, holding a crying Aaron, watching as Elle too began to assist in the barricade. Locke shouted for Hurley to get away from the window.

"How's Sawyer goin' to get back in?" Hurley turned towards Elle, but before she could answer, Ben did for them.

"He's not."

Outside the house, gunshots could be heard, in the direction that Sawyer had gone, and as Elle worried for him, she wondered why they were being holed up, but nothing had come their way.

"They're pigeon holing us," she murmured, "because of you," she shot a withering look towards Ben.

"I warned you, John," Elle reminded him, "we couldn't trust him."

"Right now, he's all we've got," Locke peered out the window as gunfire spattered the houses around them. Elle could hear Sawyer yelling for Claire, her heart pounding in her chest. There was constant gun fire and then something exploded, which brought Hurley to the window again. He looked out, pointed, turned, and in shock, stammered,

"Dude, tell me that wasn't Claire's house."

"Claire was there."

"Hurley," Elle grabbed his arm, "c'mon, let's get Aaron into the backroom, okay?"

"I gotta get Sammy settled into something so I can carry him," Elle struggled with the idea that Claire may not have made it, "you think you can help me with that?"

"Uh…yeah," Hurley shrugged, "sure."

Making a baby Bjorn out of some sheets, Elle snugly tied it onto her body, as Hurley lifted Sammy up from his bassinet and placed him into the carrier. Elle looked down as Sammy opened his eyes and as they locked onto his mother, she could have sworn he smiled. For a second, she laughed. It was probably gas. Kissing Sammy, she told him, that she was going to get him out safe and sound and that she wasn't going to leave him ever again to which he cooed and as his eyes flitted closed, she made her way back out into the living room.

Sawyer's voice and banging could be heard on the front door as they all stood armed and ready with their guns. Hurley set Aaron down in the makeshift cradle and rushed to the window to see Sawyer holding Claire. He tried without success to move the couch from the doorway. Ben cocked his gun,

"You don't want to do that, Hugo."

Hurley looked to Elle for reassurance and Elle turned her gun towards Ben giving Hurley the go ahead. Ben relented. With determination, Hurley hefted a chair and threw it out the window as Sawyer shouted to open the damn door. Handing Claire to Hurley through the shattered window, Sawyer told him to be careful. Sawyer too, climbed inside. Elle rushed over and closed the curtains over after she peered outward.

"Is she alright?" Elle stood over Claire.

"She got her bell rung, but she's gonna be all right."

Sawyer dropped to Elle's feet, in order to catch his breath,

"They just started shootin'. Why?" He looked up towards Ben with such hatred.

"Why slaughter people without even telling us what they want?"

"Those people were murdered to make you angry, James. So you'd be more likely to come storming in here and throw me to the wolves."

"Then throw we shall," Elle stepped forward, "on the count of three?"

She looked to Locke as Sawyer grabbed Ben by his lapel, but the doorbell rang.

Automatically, they all dropped what they were doing and pointed their guns towards the doorway. Locke ran to the door, while Elle stepped back into the hallway to protect Sammy. Sawyer stood to the right of the door and crept to the window. Peering through the drapes, Ben taunted him,

"I wouldn't if I were you."

"Shut up!" Sawyer spat. Nodding to Locke that it was clear, Locke opened the door, to an unexpected guest who Sawyer pulled in by the shirt and as they all held their guns on him, Elle's jaw dropped.

"Who the hell let you out, Miles?"

"The people who gave me this," he presented a walkie-talkie to Ben, "they want to talk."

XXX

Elle stepped forward, reading Mile's out of character expression of uncertainty that was furrowed in the wrinkles across his brow. He had his arms raised as Sawyer ran his hands over his clothed extremities for any hidden guns as Locke interrogated him.

"How many of 'em are there?" he asked, squinting, as if he could read the lies that may or may not come from Miles' lips.

"Maybe six," Miles appeared discomfited as he caught Elle's eye, "I'm not sure." He dropped his gaze.

"The hell you mean, you ain't sure?" Sawyer squawked, "You came over on the same boat with 'em, didn't ya?"

Miles shrugged, "They told me they were just security."

"And you just believed that," Elle shook her head, unable to read him, "that they were sent here for security?" She placed air quotes around the word security for emphasis.

"Elizabeth," Locke put a hand on her arm, to which Sawyer growled a slow protective purr as he approached him.

"Security for what?" Locke asked, ignoring Sawyer.

Nodding towards Ben, Miles indicated that the men outside were there to escort him back to the mainland once they got him secured.

"Well, Miles," Ben smirked, "sounds like you're not gonna collect on your $3.2 million."

"That's for damn sure," Elle seconded, as Sammy began to awake on her chest.

Miles gave Elle a daunting look as he swallowed hard, then thrusted the walkie talkie towards Ben, "Just take it!"

"Why would I talk to them?" Ben stood statuesque, emotionless, as he usually did when catastrophic moments arose.

"Because they have a hostage," Miles inched the radio closer to Ben, almost as if it was too hot to handle, as if the hostage's life was in his hands.

"Well, then," Ben smugly stated as he turned his back to Miles, "then they've badly miscalculated, because every single one of my people is prepared to die in service to the island."

Miles screamed and Elle's stomach flip flopped, "It's your daughter!"

Elle sucked in the stagnant air around her, a weight upon her chest as Ben looked at her with fear, the first emotion she had seen, in his eyes, as she slowly exhaled and closed her eyes, knowing that Alex was for the time being, still alive. Ben, instinctively grabbed the phone, and spoke into it.

"Hello?" his voice quaked, Elle took notice, another first for Ben.

"Am I speaking to Benjamin Linus?" One of the men's voices came over the walkie-talkie.

"That's right," Ben nodded, almost as if he were having a face to face conversation. Elle recognized this paralysis of fear.

"My name's Martin Keamy. I'm an employee of Charlie* Widmore."

Sawyer, who had been standing close to Elle and his son, leant over and whispered into Locke's direction, "Who's Charles Widmore?"

"Later." Locke directed his gaze back to Ben and the walkie.

Keamy instructed Ben to look out the east window so they could talk to one another face to face and Ben did as he was told. He peeled back the drapes and at the same time, Elle and Sawyer snuck to the opposite side of the room to sneak a peak out the other window, to make sure it wasn't a set up. Elle gasped as she watched a rather large man in camouflage appear on Ben's front lawn. Sawyer protectively pushed her to his rear and told her to stay back. Ben and Keamy's conversation began up again once they made visual contact.

"To the left," Keamy instructed, "you see me?"

"Yeah," Ben swallowed, "I see you."

"All right, Mr. Linus, these are my terms: You're gonna step out the front door, put your hands above your head and you're gonna walk straight to me. Once I have you in my custody, then I promise you that no one else in that house will be harmed."

Ben was quick to debunk his theory on do no harm, "You and I both know that once you have me, there's nothing to stop you from killing everybody else on the island."

"What kind of guy do you think I am?" Keamy's lips opened into a wide hyena like grin.

"Martin Christopher Keamy, former first sergeant, United States Marine Corps, served with distinction from 1996 to 2001, but since then, you've worked with a number of mercenary organizations, specifically in Uganda. So I know exactly what kind of man you are, Mr. Keamy, and we can dispense with the formalities."

"Well, I'll be," Sawyer guffawed at Ben's know all, "he's a walkin', talkin' Google."

"Shush," Elle's forehead came to a scrunched V, "do you see that?" She pointed out to the left of the jungle. Someone was escorting the hostage to Keamy's position.

"What is it, darlin'," Sawyer squeezed her shoulder, as she craned her neck to get a better look. She gasped and took two steps back.

"Oh my God," she looked back at Ben, "the hostage, it's Alex." Elle watched as another man in fatigues pushed Alex to her knees. Alex was withdrawn, filthy, her face, was tear stained, and sullen.

Keamy ordered Ben, "Get your ass out here right now," he pulled out a gun and pointed it at the back of Alex's head, "or I'm going to kill your daughter."

"What are you just standing there for?" Elle ran to Ben, but was pulled back by Sawyer, before she got close, "She's your daughter for Christ's sake!" Tears were streaming down Elle's face. Sammy had begun to wail as Elle's body began to quake with anger towards Ben. He didn't even move or take notice of Elle's outburst, which caused her to rage onward.

"Your daughter, Benjamin," Elle punched the wall for emphasis, "has a gun at her head!"

"Do something!"

Ben spoke.

"I'd like to present a counterproposal."

Keamy replied that he was listening, as were the rest of them as Ben, cold heartedly told Martin Keamy,

"You and your friends," he stalled, "you turn around. Walk back to your helicopter. You fly away and forget you ever heard of this island."

"Tell your daddy good-bye." Keamy handed Alex the radio and Elle watched out the window as Alex begged for her life. She took her eyes off Alex for what seemed to be only moments thinking Ben had a plan, something sinister, something to get Alex out of this, but Keamy began a countdown, one Elle was familiar with.

"Nine…"

"Okay, listen," Ben clicked the walkie. Elle held her breath, Alex's chance at life was just around the corner, but then his awful words, his tactics, if anything, made Elle want to vomit.

"She's not my daughter."

"Eight…"

"I stole her as a baby from an insane woman. She's a pawn, nothing more. I'm not coming out of this house, so if you want to kill her, go ahead and do it…"

In her head, Elle heard the continuing countdown, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…She saw Ben and Alex reunited, she watched as Keamy and the other men, took heed and stormed back towards their helicopter and never returned.

However, her ears and her eyes sensed something altogether different, something altogether sickening. A muffled gunshot sent Alex's limp body, cramping over like a puppet cut from its strings. Ben's dumbfounded expression as his stone like hand cradled the radio, stared out the window at his lifeless daughter, the pawn, he had mistakenly handed over to the callous rook; Keamy was left deserted. Keamy and his mercenaries disappeared into the night.

*Author's Note-I unconsciously wrote Charlie, instead of Charles here, and decided to leave it as homage to the dearly missed Charlie Pace.

Chapter 14*… She had prejudices on the side of ancestry; she had a value for rank and consequence, which blinded her a little to the faults of those who possessed them.*Jane Austen

Sawyer had his arms wrapped tightly around Elle's body, as the tremors slowly shivered out of her system. Their poor son, Sammy, amidst all the screaming, crying, and violent outbursts, had remained somewhat composed, silently sucking on his fingers, hiccupping the little cries that too, were leaving his tiny body. Elle couldn't get Alex's execution out of her head. It was as if her brain was on instant replay. Sawyer felt Elle slide out of his grasp, her arms cradled around Sammy, and she began to mutter,

"…he just let her die," she stroked her child's cheek, "…he just let her die."

"Shh, shh, now," Sawyer squatted down to get a better listen, "I know what the sonofabitch did ain't right, but you gotta pull it together."

Elle swallowed hard and looked deep into Sawyer's eyes and knew she was right, but instead of putting herself back together, she felt the tears coming down, but harder this time. Sawyer's heart grew heavy; tears from Elle meant a rare few things; blatant regret, over stimulated defeat, or pure happiness. He could rule out the latter.

"I couldn't let him die, James," she pressed her head into his chest, "I'm not that cold," she pointed a finger in Ben's direction.

Ben was standing at the window, facing outward, staring at his deceased daughter's body, on the debris infested, dirt laden, lawn. How something so beautiful, something so young, could be taken, it went against the rules of nature, the rules of life itself.

"Let who die, Elle?" Sawyer retracted back, aware for the first time, that the very answer, he awaited, was one he didn't want to hear. Elle just stared at Sawyer unable to find the words. How do you tell the man you love, that you handed his son over to the biological father, because if Aidan stayed on the island, he'd only survive a month? Elle bit her lip, knowing Sawyer all too well; he would overreact, attack Jack's character, ignore her, and then slowly come to realize she had done what needed to be done. Will he ever forgive me, she thought to herself, momentarily thinking about Sawyer, but as she watched Sammy's eyes dart to and fro, she had an epiphany; will Aidan ever forgive her? Unfortunately for them both, Ben's voice interrupted,

"He changed the rules."

"What?" Locke turned and walked towards Ben, "Who?"

"What rules?" Locke watched as Ben brushed past him and towards the rear of the room.

Sawyer lifted Elle up and together they watched as a spirited Ben ran towards one of the bookshelves, put all his strength into it, heaved it to the side, and revealed a hidden room. Ben, fast on his feet, got through the darkened room, before Sawyer could get a hold of him, calling after him,

"Hey! Where you goin?"

Locke and Elle stood side by side as they watched a steel door come crashing down in front of Sawyer, blockading him from entering after Ben. Sawyer began to pound on the steel door with force.

"Open this damn door!" He pounded again, "Open up!"

Sawyer turned to Locke and Elle and as sweat poured down his face, his cheeks flushed with anger, he continued to pound.

"The sonofabitch just left us here!"

With all the pounding and yelling, it was no wonder that a slightly wobbly and dazed Claire, escorted by a protective, yet wary, Hurley, had meandered from the back bedroom and into the chaos that was the living room. Elle snapped out of her mini breakdown and ran over to Claire. Taking her head into her hands, she looked Claire over, side to side, making sure she was alright. Aaron, as well as Sammy, was content with sucking on their tiny fingers.

"Claire," Elle breathed a sigh of relief, "except for that bump on your head, it looks like you'll make it."

Hearing Elle confirm Claire's well-being, didn't defer Sawyer's immediate concern; he had just risked his life to save her and he had to make sure she was indeed, just fine.

"You okay, Sweetheart?" Sawyer snapped his head around, eyeing Claire with the deepest of sympathy.

Claire scrunched her forehead as she put a hand to the wallop of a bruise on her forehead and nodded,

"Yeah, a bit wobbly, but uh…I'll live."

Miles muttered a low but coherent, "I wouldn't be too sure about that," which raised concern in Elle as she looked around the room, awaiting Ben's pending return. As if on cue, the metal door, began to shift upward, and Ben emerged, soot covered and a bit worn looking, and as he brushed past Sawyer, he was all but too congenial.

"Excuse me, James."

Sawyer was dumbfounded, "'Scuse you?"

"You up and pulled a Merlin on us," Elle waved her hand around, "for what?"

As Ben pocketed the walkie talkie, he turned to face the disquieted room of baffled spectators.

"Okay," Ben's voice was rushed, his words strategically placed, "you have to listen to me very carefully. I need all of you to do exactly as I say."

He scanned their faces and took notice of their condescending features.

"In about one minute, we have to run from this house as fast as we can. At that moment, when I give the order, I want you all to head for the tree line."

"You mean towards the guys with guns," Hurley's expression was skeptical.

"No, Hugo," Ben countered, "we want to be as far away from them as possible."

The floorboards of the house began to creak, a loud thunderous reverberation began to shake the ground, glasses began to fall off the table, and books fell open to various pages as they shook off the bookcases, Elle had to grasp the doorjamb in order to stay balanced.

"What the hell did you do?" She hollered over the roaring resonance.

Ben peered out the window and on his count, he pointed to the back of the house, and commanded,

"Okay, now!"

With those words, Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, Elle and Claire, along with their children, rushed out of the house, following after Ben. They stopped short as a large, billowing tunnel of smoke, came around Ben's house, and made like a runaway train towards Keamy and his men. Lightening bolts of electricity sporadically shot within the belly of the smoke monster. They all stood in awe as it made for a bee line towards the men. Hurley couldn't help but stutter, his mouth agape with shock,

"Did you just call that thing?"

Locke watched in admiration as the smoke monster ripped through the trees, uprooting them, along with Keamy's men. The black smoke, curled and wisped through the air, attacking the mercenaries, their screams and gun firing dulled by the roaring of the smoke monster. One of the men came barreling out of the brush, carrying a machine gun, had it aimed towards them, but instead of firing at them, he furiously began to shoot into the smoke. Angering it, it enveloped him, twisted his legs out from under him, and sucked him back into the jungle. A distant command from one of the mercenaries ordered them to, "Fall back!"

On that note, Sawyer, gun readied, ushered Hurley, Claire, and Elle to run, shouting at them to run in the opposite direction. To their astonishment, Miles had already begun to run, terror stricken. Elle had her son secured and her gun held out in front of her, as they ran through the trees. Ben shouted towards them,

"Head for the trees," he looked back towards the smoke, "I'll meet up with you."

Locke stayed behind, only briefly to question Ben's motives on staying behind. Ben looked reverent as he spoke,

"I have to say goodbye to my daughter, John." Locke handed Ben a shotgun and nodded, then fled in the footsteps of those that had gone before him. Catching up to the others, when you had the fear of God in you, was no feat for Locke. Night had fallen among them and as they gathered their bearings, Sawyer reached for Elle.

"Are you two okay?" He ran a surprising cool hand down Elle's cheek and peered down on his son. Elle nodded and locked eyes with Sawyer, who leant in and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. Elle feverishly returned the kiss, welcoming Sawyer's mouth. Their lips detached and Sawyer quickly pecked a kiss on Sammy's forehead, then turned to the others. He stared at Miles.

"I think your chopper buddies ran that way," he pointed an angry finger beyond the trees, "if you want to catch up."

"Yeah," Miles swallowed a lump of fear, "I think I'll stay with you guys for awhile."

Nodding that he understood, Sawyer handed him a torch and it came alight with flames. Elle heard footsteps approaching and quickly aimed her gun, while Locke and Sawyer did the same. Lowering their weapons upon seeing Ben's face, he ambled towards them. Locke greeted him, solemnly,

"I'm sorry about your daughter." Elle bit back her words and did the same.

"Thank you, both," Ben nodded, but his eyes bulged as John Locke turned the tables on him.

"With that said, you lied to me."

"You said you didn't know what the smoke monster was," Locke's voice was full of anger.

"When we find Jacob, you can ask him all about that, John." Ben answered meekly.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a tick," Sawyer pushed himself in between the two, "who the hell's Jacob?"

"He's the man that's going to tell us what to do next, James," Ben looked towards John as he said this.

"You know what," Sawyer threw up his hands, "I'm done with all of this."

Elle moved towards him and sidled up against him. "I never should have followed you wackos in the first place. I'm going back to the beach, and I'm taking my family, Claire and the kid, with me." He turned to look at Claire.

"You good with that?"

Claire nodded as Elle pulled her towards them, "Yeah, I'm good with that."

Miles was quick to announce that he would accompany them. Elle looked up at Hurley and waved him to join,

"Let's go," she winked, "you too, Hurley."

They turned their backs on Locke and Ben and Elle's ear picked up on the cock of a gun, directed at their backs. She stopped, along with Sawyer, who rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Have you lost your mind," Sawyer responded with cockiness, his back still turned on Locke's gun.

"Hugo stays with us."

Simultaneously, Elle and Sawyer whipped around, their guns drawn at a standoff with Locke.

"Not a chance," Sawyer gritted his teeth as Elle pulled on the strap of the baby carrier and in a blink of an eye, Sammy was now protected by her back.

"He's coming with us, John," she turned her gun towards Ben, who didn't bother to lift a finger to his own.

"Wait," Hurley put up his hands, "leave me out of this."

"I'm sorry Hugo," Locke didn't take his eyes off Sawyer, "we need you to find the cabin."

"He ain't goin' anywhere with you, you crazy sonofabitch." Sawyer growled.

Hurley relented, his fear of guns, and death, took a toll on him, and walked towards Ben and Locke.

"Put the guns down," he looked to his friends, "I'll go with Locke, just please, put your guns down."

"Hugo." Sawyer shook his head; he wasn't leaving his friend behind.

"It's okay, Sawyer," Hurley turned to look Elle in the eyes, "it's okay."

Elle felt a tear form but didn't allow it to fall; why was he doing this? Opting to go with Locke and Ben to find some the same cabin they had no luck finding days before.

Locke, Elle, and Sawyer, all put down their guns, and Sawyer's voice cracked, "You don't have to do this."

"I'll be okay," Hurley smiled weakly, "I'll meet you guys back at the beach, sooner or later."

Sawyer, whilst his gun was lowered, his fury was still aimed at Locke, "You harm so much as one hair on his curly head, I'll kill you."

"Fair enough," Locke nodded.

The group then dispersed in their separate directions.

XXX

Chapter 15 *Hide behind the veil of ignorance, but every action has a consequence* Assemblage

As Sawyer followed in the footsteps of Elle and his son, Miles and Claire too, who was holding ever so tightly, a whimpering Aaron, began their pilgrimage back to the safe haven of the beach. With Elle's tracking abilities and amazing sense of direction, they would make haste, without coming into contact with Keamy and his merciless men. The air is dense, not a cricket, or bird, makes noise, nor do any of them, for their own, personal reasons. Miles, was still apparently in shock, Claire was seemingly unsteady as she fumbled her steps every now and then, since her house came falling down upon her, and Sawyer, he couldn't get Elle's words out of his head. Who couldn't she let die? Elle, quietly surveying the brush and trails, was lost in thought and concern for her dear friend Hurley. Claire, losing her footing, caused the others to stir, along with the still and sleeping animals of the jungle.

"Ow," Claire's voice echoed, as she juggled herself and Aaron.

Elle and Sawyer stopped immediately, turned to their friend, and made sure she was alright. Claire shook herself off, blaming her misstep on still being wobbly from the accident.

"At least I'm not seeing things anymore," she rolled her eyes, but Elle looked from Sawyer to Claire and spoke.

"You might have a concussion," she surmised, but Miles offered his two cents.

"You don't hallucinate with a concussion," he looked at Claire with beady eyes.

"Back off Donger," Sawyer quipped and grabbed Claire by the elbow and led her back onto what remained of level ground.

"Just making conversation," Miles mumbled, sighing as he watched Sawyer lead Claire away.

"Let's make some time," Sawyer took control of their situation, "I wanna cover more ground before we gotta camp tonight."

Elle agreed, "If we hoof it, we can be at the beach by noon tomorrow."

"I never thought I'd get to see the beach again," Claire hummed to Aaron, "it'll be strange, don't you think, Elle?"

"If by strange you mean, we won't have tea and muffins," she winked, "then yeah."

For the first time that night, Claire appeared more relaxed, and as she followed Elle's footing, with Sawyer at her left, and Miles bringing up the rear, she smiled to herself, a sad smile, one Elle could only imagine, was Claire's memories of her life with Charlie on the beach. They reached a clearing and as they trudged over it, Miles stopped suddenly. He had his hands to his ears, as if he was blocking out something. His features grew dim and his voice frantic.

"Hey!" Sawyer noticed his odd behavior, "What's goin' on?"

"Who are Danielle and Karl?" Miles asked, bringing two very familiar names to their ears.

"Y-you mean Rousseau?" Claire stuttered, "The French woman?"

Miles began to brush away at the dirt, digging deep with his hands, as Elle and the others looked on in confusion. Miles uncovered a buried body, her eyes open, her mouth locked in shock; it was Danielle. Claire turned Aaron's eyes from the scene and mumbled an oh my God. Elle, too, shielded Sammy, as bile began creep into her mouth. Miles then hopped not nearly a foot over from Danielle's body and began to unearth another; this time, Sawyer's insides fouled over.

"Karl," he turned his head and then as anger fueled his words, he pointed to Miles.

"How'd you know they were down there," he rushed towards Miles, "your buddies do this?"

Miles, obviously sickened by his two finds, threw up his hands in self defense, claiming that those men, those blood lusting men, were not his buddies.

"I didn't sign up for this, man," he shook his head, his olive complexion, paling as he did so.

"Sawyer," Elle tugged on his sleeve, "let's just get out of here, please."

Whispering, Sawyer took Elle into his arms, and hugged her and Sammy, "Yeah, yeah, of course," they began to walk away, "don't worry, once we get back to the beach, it'll be alright." He promised both women as they cradled their children, blocking their line of sight with his broad shoulders. They made their way towards the beach, the light from the sun, slowly fading as night approached. Stopping at a creek so Elle and Claire could both feed their babies, Sawyer searched the perimeter and caught Miles staring at the two women, lost in God knows what kind of improper thoughts. Sawyer swung his rifle over his shoulder and reprimanded Miles.

"Don't even think about it," he pointed to the two women as the rested.

"What?" Miles raised an eyebrow.

"Don't look at 'em, talk to 'em, even think about 'em," Sawyer hissed, "restrainin' order, twenty feet."

"Who died and made you their guardian?" Miles asked sarcastically.

"No one died yet," Sawyer winked at Miles, indicating he could be next, "but I'm the guy who's gonna put a boot in your face unless you say, 'Yeah, I getcha'."

Sawyer was near enough to Miles' face that he could feel his clammy breath. Miles muttered, "Yeah, I getcha."

XXX

As they made camp for the night, Miles proved useful, as he prepared a fire to keep them warm, while Claire finally got to rest her unstable feet and took to falling asleep pretty quickly. Once Sawyer was content with their situation, he took Elle aside, away from nosey ears.

"Besides the occasional chit chat," Sawyer looked into her deep, chocolate eyes, "you've been givin' me the cold shoulder ever since you came back."

"Sawyer," Elle sighed, "can't we just rest and talk in the morning?"

"No, we can't just rest," he gritted his teeth in frustration, "not until you tell me how my son is."

Elle sucked in her breath, "You said your son."

"It's all semantics to me," Sawyer ran a hand through his hair, "he may not be my blood, but he's still my little man."

Elle could feel her stomach tighten in knots, guilty, regretful, knots. She rocked Sammy to sleep as she paced back and forth. Finally, she spoke, "He's fine." She left out all the horrid details of what she had done to save her son, and skated over the torturing of Juliet, even though she was sure he would have approved.

"Juliet saved him," she bit her lip.

"So, he's not…," Sawyer couldn't form the word dead, it was as if his brain lost all control of his tongue.

"No," Elle caressed his cheek, "no, James, he's alive." She smiled and Sawyer quickly pecked her on the mouth, followed by a few kisses on her eyelids, her nose, and one last, lingering kiss on her warm mouth.

"I don't understand," Sawyer shook his head in disbelief, "back in New Otherton, you were mumblin' somethin' awful."

"He won't survive here," Elle fought back tears, unable to control herself, "he has to leave."

"Leave?" Sawyer balled his fists, "And go where, Elle?"

"Off the island," she choked on the words, "away from this place…this place won't save him."

"There has to be another way," Sawyer refused to believe Aidan leaving was the only option, "something had to have saved him?"

Elle explained to him that the serum that saved Aidan was in limited supply, that if at best, he would have a month to live. Sawyer quickly reverted back to the day they were working on the other island, when Elle collapsed, and Juliet injected her with a serum. He questioned Elle about that day and she told him that it was Aidan Juliet was saving, not her.

"He's sick, James," she licked at a tear that fell onto her lips, "he's weak."

"So what you're sayin' is," Sawyer's voice shook, "that you came all the way back here to get our son and you're leavin'?"

"No!" Elle's voice quaked, "I'm staying, Sawyer, don't you understand, I'm staying with you and him," she pointed down at a sleeping Sammy.

"Sonofabitch," Sawyer grumbled, "what the hell did you do?"

"The only thing I could." She began to walk away, afraid of Sawyer's reaction, to what was coming next. He reached for her forearm and spun her around, catching her off guard.

"You just handed him ova, without so much as a word," he narrowed his eyes as he looked down on Elle, "to him?"

"He can take care of him, Sawyer," Elle braced herself against Sawyer's anger, "we can't."

"He'll need his father," Elle swallowed the bitter word, "he'll provide for him, a life, neither of us could give him here."

"Don't I get a say?" she had never seen Sawyer so adamant about something. She supposed being a father would do that to a person. She straightened her shoulders and steadied her voice,

"No, James, you don't."

Sawyer grunted something inaudible and stalked back to the campfire. He squatted down, defeated, and prodded the fire with a stick. Miles had fallen asleep, or he had pretended to, as did Claire. Elle found a spot near Claire, isolating herself from Sawyer, giving him his space. There was no use in arguing or attempting to alleviate the pain that was brewing inside of him. Sawyer sat, paralyzed, as the flames danced and licked at the stick, ashes lit with life, floated and died, as his heart pounded in his chest. He's left to his thoughts, a dark place, where he would never opt to go, but his mind began to clear and he muttered, sadly,

"We could've all left."

Elle, turning over towards him, smiled a muted agreement, but ignored that fantasy.

"What would we have done, out there," she sighed, "start a family business of conartists?"

"We're not made for that world, James," she eased closer to Claire, "all we have is one another, isn't that enough?"

"He'll live?" Sawyer asked her again to which she replied yes.

Sawyer threw the stick into the fire and watched it burn, "Then it has to be enough."

XXX

Chapter 16*Have you heard the news today? People right across the world, are pledging they will play the game, victims of a modern world, circumstance has brought us here, Armageddon's come too near, too, too near, now, foresight is the only key, to save our children's destiny, the consequences are so grave*Jamiroquai

They searched the whole day looking for Claire, but despite Elle's tracking abilities, they were unable to locater her. Thinking back to what Sawyer had said about her disappearing into a puff of smoke, caused Elle to shiver, as Aaron fussed in Sawyer's arms. Was she kidnapped? What if she was in duress and needed their help but was unable to call out? A myriad of thoughts, none of them positive, swam in Elle's head, causing her to space out every now and then; that was, until she heard Miles talking to someone up ahead of them. She looked around and noticed that they were near the beach. Sawyer, unable to get a hold on his rifle, because of Aaron, nudged Elle to arm herself, and hollered towards Miles.

"Hey, who you talkin' to up there, Genghis?" Sawyer and Elle came around the brush and stopped in their tracks. Jack and Kate were standing in front of Miles, Kate with her gun drawn, and Jack, holding a sleeping, Aidan. It appeared that they were discussing something, when Miles stumbled upon them.

"Elle," Kate sighed with relief at the sight of her friend and lowered her weapon, "long time no see."

Jack's brow furrowed as he took notice of Sawyer with Aaron, waited a few seconds to see if Claire would come around the corner, but when she failed to do so, he became worried. Kate too, noticed her absence and inquired,

"Where's Claire?" Sawyer and Elle, both exhausted, said nothing.

"Elle," Jack attempted again, "where is she?"

Elle looked at Jack as he held their son and bit her lip, "We lost her."

Stirring a whimper from Aidan, Jack's voice bellowed, "You what?"

"Easy, Doc," Sawyer handed Aaron over to Kate, "she just walked off into the jungle during the middle of the night."

"We searched all day," Elle assisted Sawyer, "but we couldn't find her…has she made it back to the beach?" Elle tried to sound hopeful, but Jack's dismissal, caused her to falter. Claire hadn't made it back to the beach; which meant they had abandoned her in the jungle after all.

Sawyer watched as Jack jiggled Aidan, who was gripping a tight hand around Jack's pinky. Apparent disgust drew lines on Sawyer's face as Jack paled.

"Sawyer…," Jack attempted, conscious of the awkwardness in the situation, but Sawyer's tone was terse.

"Squash it, Doc," he turned to look at Elle, "we discussed it all night without you."

"It's what's best for my son," Sawyer emphasized the word son, "but I swear, Jack, you screw up…," but Jack quickly stepped up to the plate,

"I won't."

Kate, not used to being on the outside looking in, held Aaron close and questioned Jack about what Sawyer was talking about. Elle turned to face her, noticing how natural she appeared with Aaron, and warily smiled.

"When rescue comes," Elle nodded towards the others on the beach, "I want Jack to take Aidan with you all."

"Oh, Elle, no," Kate began to pace, realizing what Elle and Jack had been discussing two days before on the beach.

"It's the only way he'll survive," Elle reassured her.

"Jack?" Kate eyed him with a longing look in her stare.

"It's over and done with, Freckles," Sawyer walked towards Jack and offered his hands, to which Jack handed Aidan over to him.

"I ain't fittin' on buryin' a newborn."

"He's our only hope," Sawyer shot a look towards Jack and then mumbled to himself as he memorized Aidan's face, "never thought I'd be sayin' that." Aidan gurgled and smiled. Elle came round and traced a finger down Aidan's alabaster cheek.

"Hey, there, little man," she pecked him, "I hope somehow, someday, you'll know this was for your own good."

Sawyer too, whispered close to Aidan's ear, "Don't forget your Mama and me," he kissed him gently and as Aidan reached up and took hold of Sawyer's shaggy hair, he laughed.

"I love ya, son."

Jack turned and swallowed a lump of guilt but was surprised when Sawyer handed him back over to Jack, giving him a bit of sound advice.

"Prepare yourself, Doc," he smirked, "his nickname's Spit Fire."

Sitting in the waiting room of a fellow colleague, with his son, anxiously awaiting his call in to see the doctor was strange to Jack. Patients usually waited for him; however, it had become a routine for them to go and get blood drawn, every three weeks. His son, sat impatiently on Jack's right, on one of the steel and uncomfortable chairs, his feet swinging back and forth, one shoe untied. Jack took the little boy's foot into his hands and tied his laces. The little boy looked up at his father from behind tiny glasses, his dark, chocolate eyes, were smiling as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry, daddy," he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "I forget how to tie."

"It's okay, buddy," Jack's face beamed, "we'll go over it later."

A young woman opened the door that separated the waiting room from the patients' rooms and looked out over a manila file. Her blue eyes scanned the room as she called out the next patient's name.

"Aidan James Shephard?"

"That's me," Aidan jumped down off his chair and grabbed a hold of Jack's hand, pulling him towards the young woman.

She immediately recognized the man as one of the Oceanic 7. The doctor who, along with six others, four adults and two infants, was rescued after their plane, Oceanic 815, had crashed off its course. She found it astonishing that they had survived, let alone two infants, had managed to endure the harsh conditions that the media had alerted them to. She felt a knot in her stomach, her mind flashing back to the day her soap opera was interrupted by a news flash that a plane, his plane, had crashed. She didn't think much of it, until they began to name the passengers of the manifest. One name caught her ear and she had dropped her glass of iced-tea, its shards and liquid a pool at her feet. The name of someone she hadn't seen in years, but the face was all too familiar; Elizabeth Grecco. She realized she had been daydreaming, when Aidan tapped on her leg, and asked which room was his?

"Sorry, Aidan," she smiled down at the boy and looked up to his father, "Mr. Shephard, right this way."

Jack hefted Aidan up on the cushioned table and he watched as the nurse checked his temperature, his blood pressure, and pulse, documenting it all in his chart. Turning to the little boy, she couldn't help but be captivated by his eyes and his sideways smile. He was a beautiful boy, but those eyes, they struck her deep down.

"So what brings you two young men in today?"

"My heart hurts," Aidan tilted his head to the side, to which Jack commented that it was his routine checkup since his heart surgery over a year ago. Quickly jotting that down, she was stunned to hear the boy comment,

"You're beautiful." She could feel herself blush at his words.

"Easy, Spit Fire," Jack ran a hand over his crew cut of black hair.

"Sorry," Aidan blushed, "I tend to do that a lot."

"What's that?" she asked.

"Talk before thinking."

The nurse couldn't help but laugh, "Spit Fire suits you."

She rolled his sleeve up and whispered to him, knowing his father would hear, "If you keep calling me beautiful, you might just get two lollipops."

"See daddy," Aidan gushed, "she couldn't resist."

"What a charmer," she tapped him on the nose.

"Just like his mother," Jack agreed, to which she noticed a distant look in his eyes. Her small frame, her wavy locks of blonde hair, those deep, blue eyes; Jack became nostalgic and sickened simultaneously; she looked just like Claire.

"Is your mother in the waiting room," she asked, "I could have her in here for this."

She noticed that both Aidan and Mr. Shephard looked at one another before answering her. Hearing his little voice broke her heart, regretting she had even brought up the topic.

"My mama died when she had me and my brother," Aidan looked to his father, who nodded, "We lost her and our son during birth, after we crashed."

"Aidan here is my little miracle."

"I'm so sorry," the nurse apologized, "I overstepped my boundaries."

Jack watched as she began to draw blood from Aidan's tiny vein, proudly smiling as his son, didn't even wince at the prick from the needle. Asking the nurse her name, she immediately thought he was going to have her written up, and she apologized again.

"My name's Lily," she slapped on a sticker to the vial of blood she collected, "if you must report me, go ahead."

"Report you?" Jack was baffled, "Why would I do that?"

"For upsetting you and your son," she lowered her head, "I too have a tendency to speak without thinking."

"Daddy," Aidan's face scowled, "don't tattle on her."

"I wouldn't, kiddo," Jack hugged him, "don't worry," he looked to Lily and nodded.

"You're doing a fine job with my son," he commended her, "forgive me if you got the wrong impression, you just remind me of someone."

"Was she pretty too?" Aidan asked Jack, who smiled down at his son, telling him yes.

"Not prettier than my mama?" Aidan put his hands on his hips, jarring Jack's memory of Elle almost immediately.

"No, Aidan," he sighed, "no one is prettier than her."

"Daddy tells me stories of my mama all the time so I'll never forget her," he gushed, "ain't that right daddy?"

"Isn't that right," Jack corrected him, to which Aidan stuck out his tongue, "but yes, stories are what I'm good at."

"Well, Aidan," Lily closed over his medical file and walked towards the door, opening it for them, "it was my pleasure meeting you." She handed him two lollipops; he unwrapped one and sucked on it.

"Melon," he gave her a thumb's up, "my favorite."

Jack played around in his back pocket for a minute as he shuffled Aidan out the door and dropped a piece of paper. Not looking back, even after Lily spotted it and called after him, he and his son left the doctor's office. Reaching down, Lily noticed that the folded piece of paper had her name scrolled across it, in a woman's handwriting. Bewildered, she opened it, and had to sit down, for her heart pounded so, and she couldn't catch her breath.

Lily-

If he's found you, I'm alive. Aidan is my son; your nephew. His brother and I are still out there. You must find Jack. Find us. Find Jack. He has to go back.

-Elle

Attached to the note was Jack's card. He came through to his promise to Elle; he found her stepsister, but at what cost?

Laughing nervously, Jack grabbed hold of his side and grimaced. Sawyer noticed and looked at the doctor suspiciously.

"You don't look so good, Jack-o," to which Jack huffed, "So I've been told."

"Juliet removed his appendix last night," Kate updated them, "but he's too stubborn to just sit still."

"Why so antsy?" Elle asked them both. Kate informed her that the helicopter had flown over the island and someone, most likely Sayid, had dropped a satellite phone. Jack insisted that they should follow it.

"You better hope it ain't Sayid," Sawyer scoffed, "'cause if he's with those animals that just blew up half of New Otherton, you do not want to tussle with them."

"What," Kate was shocked, "they tried to kill you?"

"Just like Locke said they would," Elle hated that he was right.

Infuriated, Jack turned his head, trying to gather his thoughts,

"So…what," he exasperated, "we're supposed to just turn around and hide?"

"That didn't work so well for you," he spat towards Sawyer and Elle, regretfully so.

"I'm sorry, Doc," Sawyer was growing impatient, "maybe this is déjà vu, but didn't you just do the whole run through the jungle with a walkie plan?"

"That helicopter is our only way off this island," Jack shouted.

"You're like a damn broken record," Sawyer smirked, "we have to get off the island."

"Sawyer," Elle checked the magazine of her gun, "he's right and you know it."

Jack called over Rose who was delighted to see Elle and when Jack handed her Aidan, she did a double take. Jack asked Rose to watch Aidan and as she cuddled him, she turned to see a tear in Elle's eyes.

"Oh, baby girl," Rose took her into her arms, "what's going on?"

"Rose," Bernard advanced toward his wife with concern, "honey, what's going on?"

Elle removed Sammy from the Bjorn and placed Sammy into Bernard's warm, aged, hands. He fidgeted a bit at first, but as he took in the sight of the small infant, Bernard relaxed. "Hey, hey, there little guy," he cooed, "that's right, I got you."

Kate still had Aaron in her arms and felt helpless, knowing Elle was going to go look for Claire and that Jack was dead set on finding that helicopter, whether it was their rescue or not. Jack and Elle informed Rose and Bernard to take care of their babies, to which Jack added to Kate, who held a whimpering Aaron,

"Take him back to the beach."

"You can not be thinking about going out there alone," Kate's eyes were wide in frustration.

"He won't be alone," Elle interjected, "I'm going to find Claire and bring her back."

"Then let's go," Jack nodded to her, to which Sawyer checked his gun, and stuffed it into the back of his jeans,

"Sonofabitch is stubborn," he grumbled, "the both of 'em are."

"Hold up, you two, you don't get to die alone."

It was nearing the middle of the night, when she heard the coils from his mattress spring and his tiny feet pitter patter on the wooden floor that lead from his room to theirs. She stayed curled up alongside Sawyer, who was sound asleep, and waited for him to enter their room. It was nights like these, that she kept a night light on in his room, but more than lately, he would creep into their room. He tapped her on the nose, twice, whispering,

"Mama," she pretended to sleep, "mama, can I sleep with you and daddy?"

Elle opened one eye and peered at him from her blanket,

"What's botherin' you," she was going to call him Dimples, but nights like these, he always failed to smile.

"My heart hurts, mama," he dramatically placed his small palm against his chest, "it's like its gots a big hole in it."

"Has a big hole in it," she chuckled, correcting him.

"Mama," he grew impatient, "can I?"

"Let's make a deal," she pulled up her blanket and he scurried into the warmth of her bed, inching into the crook of her arm.

"You stay the night with daddy and me," she teased, knowing very well that Sawyer had woken up, "and tomorrow you get a haircut."

"Aww, shucks, mama," he tried to wrestle out of her arms, "I wanna look like daddy."

"You like lookin' like a mess?" she tried to keep a straight face, but she couldn't help but smile at her son; he was a replica of Sawyer, how could she resist?.

"You sure know how to hurt a fella's heart, Elle," Sawyer grumbled as he turned over towards her and his son.

"She's right, you know, squirt," Sawyer mussed up Sammy's head of curls, "your hair gets any longer and we'll be callin' you Shirley Temple."

"I'm no girl," Sammy wrestled free of Elle's grasp and jumped into the middle of their bed.

"Easy there, buddy," Sawyer couldn't help but laugh at his son's temper.

"How about tomorrow, Mama gives us both trims," he winked.

"You're gonna cut your hair?" Sammy's eyes grew wide in shock.

"If it gets you to sleep in your own dang bed," he pecked him on the forehead, "then yes."

Sawyer peered over Sammy's body to Elle who frowned in return. For the past year, Sammy had been claiming his heart was hurting, insisting that he didn't feel complete unless he was with them. At first they figured he was having nightmares, but as temperamental as he was, Sammy insisted he wasn't afraid…just…lonely…He was three years old and already he felt lonely. What had she done to cause such a small, fragile, life, so much pain?

Chapter 17 *Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men.*Thomas H. Huxley

Jack led Sawyer and Elle through the jungle, the satellite phone's incessant beeping kept the awkwardness of the situation at bay. However, like most things, that continued to beep, tick, caw, or drip, Elle's skin began to crawl. She stopped after about a half hour of the almost near silence and picked at the ground. Sawyer stopped and squatted down beside her, calling out to Jack.

"Hey, Doc," he whistled, "hold up a tick."

"What'd ya find, Artemis," Sawyer winked as Elle glanced up at him, the familiarity of her own personal nickname warmed her heart. He was right in using that one, for she was a huntress now, on the prowl looking for Claire. While her eyes were dark like brownie batter, they were keen as a hawk's, scouring her surroundings for any sign of her best friend.

"It's nothing," Elle shook her head in disgust, "just another useless trail."

"We'll find her," Sawyer promised her, as he hoisted her up, her hand entwined in his. Jack looked on, a bit discomfited at the sight, but sighed, and reached for his side.

"We've been down this road before," he reminded her, not that she really needed to be reminded of the countless days she had spent searching for Claire after Ethan had kidnapped her.

"And she came back to us once," Jack attempted to smile.

"Right," Elle nodded in agreement, "all good things in time."

"Still," Elle's voice cracked, "if you had only seen Aaron, wailing for her, it was as if he had known she had abandoned him."

"No way in hell, she just left him like that," Sawyer squeezed her hand for comfort, "my money's on the fool that showed up like a ghoul in the middle of the night."

The threesome continued following the satellite phone's coordinates into the thickness of the jungle, stepping over fallen trees, sidestepping small puddles, still left from the torrential rains a few nights over, and scanning the brush for any signs of Claire or worse, Keamy's men. Jack had informed them that when the satellite phone dropped out of the sky, onto Claire's abandoned tent, nonetheless, Daniel had turned it on, but it was already transmitting. A harsh voice had instructed Lapidus to land the helicopter and that they were heading towards a station, named The Orchid. Elle question Jack, whether or not Juliet had known anything about the station, but his fervent shake of his head, told her no. Sawyer noticed that Jack's side was starting to bleed out and commented.

"So what else did I miss, besides you becoming one organ less?"

Jack grunted and Elle paled, for Sawyer knew very well what had happened on the island at the beach just a day before she showed up back at the barracks, before they were reigned down on by Keamy and his men. Up ahead of them, they heard grunting and what sounded like metal banging. Jack raised a hand to silence them and they halted. He scanned the satellite phone and nodded up ahead.

"We're here."

XXX

Back on the beach, Sayid arrived in a small motored raft, and called out to a few, like Juliet to help him bring it ashore. Sun and Jin too ran over to assist and Sun questioned Sayid about Desmond's whereabouts.

"He's fine," Sayid's breath was ragged, "He's on the freighter."

"Listen," his words were urgent, "I'm going to start taking people back, six at a time, but we have to get there before the helicopter makes it back."

Juliet, who had her hands on her hips, raised one in question, pointing out to sea,

"Why do we have to get to the boat before the chopper gets back?"

Sayid, with his brows knitted together, stepped closer to her, and in his thick Arabic accent, spoke.

"Because, those men on the helicopter have every intention of killing us all."

Juliet huffed and looked towards the jungle, causing Sayid's heart to beat faster, concern displayed on his face,

"What?" he asked her, awaiting her response. Sun and Jin looked onward.

"Jack, Sawyer, and Elle, just went running after it."

"Of course they did," Sayid stated bluntly.

Sayid headed to his tent to gather a few items, threw them into his knapsack, and prepared to head off after Jack and the others, unaware that Kate had just arrived back with Aaron in her arms. Sayid noticed that Rose and Bernard each held in their arms, Elle's sons, Sammy and Aidan. He looked on as Kate came running up to him.

"Sayid!" she called out, apprehensive at seeing her friend, knowing that Jack thought he was on the helicopter.

"Jack, thought that…," but he interrupted her, "I know what he thought, that's why I'm going after them."

Asking her how far they were, she told him that they had left only about an hour ago. Aaron whined in her arms. Rose and Bernard rocked Elle's babies, side by side, watching as Kate and Sayid spoke. Daniel came running up to them and placed a friendly hand on Sayid's arm.

"Sayid," he appeared out of breath, "if you wanna run off into the jungle after the chopper, you should do that."

"But," Sayid had little time to waste.

"But in the meantime, we need to get these people off the island."

Sayid hesitated, instructing Daniel that he wouldn't be long, but Daniel was adamant.

"I can start ferrying people off now," he nodded, "get them there safely."

Sayid wanted to question his motives, but knew that the lives of the people on the island were in jeopardy. Handing him the compass from his pocket, Sayid urged him to follow the coordinates. Daniel smiled.

"I trust you know the bearing," Sayid smiled in return, knowing very well that he did.

Daniel began to organize the first group of men and women to the raft. Juliet spoke up, indicating that Sun was pregnant and she should be among the first to go. Rose and Bernard quickly agreed, and as they conferred amongst one another, Rose handed Aidan over to Jin.

"Elle wants Aidan on that freighter," she enunciated each word, "please, take him. We are not leaving." Rose smiled at Jin, nodding that it was the right thing to do. Jin, uncomfortable with the tiny baby in his arms, looked to his wife for assistance. She grievously agreed, after Kate had handed her Aaron, placing his little life in her hands. Sun raised the question of Claire's whereabouts, but there wasn't any time to explain. Kate reassured her that she'd see them on the freighter, but for now, they had to go. Daniel escorted both Sun and Jin, along with the two infants, into the raft along with four others, and began to speed out towards the freighter. Sayid questioned Kate about Aidan's departure and she informed him that Elle had to make one of the hardest decisions she'd ever have to face; Aidan's life was on the line if he stayed on the island.

"Yet she is not going," Sayid nodded, it wasn't a question.

"He's Jack's responsibility now," Kate swallowed the words, knowing Aaron was her responsibility as well.

"Jack?" Sayid's eyes narrowed asking Kate why Jack of all people, but the way Kate's eyes diverted and the blush on her cheeks flourished, Sayid understood; Jack was his father. Sayid and Kate ran in the opposite direction, in hopes of catching their friends, before something horrible happened.

She must have read his address over and over, before finally finding the nerve to get into her honey bee yellow VW Bug and inserting the key into the ignition. The Mamas and the Papas were playing on the radio and as she powered up the sunroof, she took a deep breath and headed off in the direction of the doctor's house. She drove along Highway 405, taking the middle lane, and passing a few slow cars, every now and then. She pulled off his exit and found herself slowing the car along the curbside. She sat idly by, not knowing what she was going to say, or if she'd even be able to approach the door, but was shocked to find that she had managed to walk the steps leading to the front door and rang the bell. She did a double take, looking back at her car, not even remembering exiting it. She rang the bell again and heard footsteps approaching from the inside. "It's now or never," she thought to herself and put on a face of steel. The door opened and revealed a woman, in her late twenties, long brown hair, and striking eyes; it was Kate. Not expecting to see another survivor of the flight, she was taken aback. Kate was the first to speak.

"Can…can… I help you?" she stared at the young woman, taking in her appearance, and could only stutter the salutation as her visitor was eerily too familiar.

"Is Dr. Shephard home?" Lily asked, stunned by Kate's awkward expression and silence. The silence didn't last too long, for Aidan and Aaron came running up to Kate and latched onto her legs. Kate looked down at her son and back up at Lily and put a protective arm around him. Aidan piped up,

"Hiya Nurse Lily!" Lily smiled down at the boy and wrung her hands tightly around something in her hands as she took his in tiny features.

Kate found her voice, stronger this time, and with question lines wrinkling her forehead, she echoed Aidan.

"Lily?"

"You must be Kate Austen," Lily addressed her, "we need to talk."

Kate, stunned by the young woman's assertiveness, stood sentry at the door, not moving a muscle. Aidan poked her in the side,

"Ain't you gonna invite her in, Aunt Kate?" he bit his lip, wondering why his aunt was being so weird.

Kate snapped out of her semi trance and corrected Aidan's grammar before opening the door slightly for Lily. Lily thanked Kate and followed her into the spacious living room. Kate turned to the boys and told them to go play in their bedroom while she and Lily had some adult time. Aidan grabbed a muted Aaron by the hand and bolted towards the room,

"Let's go buddy!" he turned back, "See ya, Nurse Lily!"

Lily waved as she watched her nephew run towards the back of the house. She swallowed a lump in her throat as Kate offered her a beverage. Lily decline and with a twinkle in her eye, she broke the awkward small talk.

"Do I remind you of someone too?"

"Why do you ask," Kate responded, pouring herself a glass of water.

"Because Dr. Shephard had a similar look on his face when he brought Aidan in for his checkup a few weeks ago."

Kate, now, was the one to swallow a lump of anxiety in her throat.

"I don't think I follow," she replied, feigning a brave face.

Pulling out a piece of paper, Lily handed it to Kate,

"He dropped this."

Kate unfolded the note that Jack left in the doctor's office, the one that Elle had handed to him on the beach, years before. She read it over, not once, but twice, and her face paled. Emotions upon emotions were fuming inside of Kate, fury; that Jack would attempt to make contact with an outsider, shock; that he didn't have the decency to trust her with this. She clearly remembered the day on the beach when Elle pulled him aside and handed him a piece of paper. All he did was shed a few tears and resolved to silence. Kate folded the note over, not before tracing the words, her friend Elle, had written, and looked to a patient Lily.

"What?" Kate exasperated, "What do you want?"

"I want answers," Lily deadpanned, "and I want the truth."

"How long do you think you can lie for?"

Kate sighed, relieved for a moment that someone finally caught on and had the gall to speak out. She wanted to tell Lily that she'd be surprised how long Kate could carry on a life full of lies for, but instead she handed the note back to Lily, almost forcibly thrusting it in her face.

"You don't know what you're asking," Kate words were hushed, "the risk you are taking just showing up here."

"I know exactly what I'm doing," Lily countered, "she'd expect nothing less from me…could she say the same of you?"

"She never told me about you," Kate shook her head, not wanting to believe that this woman, was related to Elle, was related to the little boy in the next room. Lily shoved an album into Kate's lap, knowing very well she would need proof. She didn't have much, but she hoped it would suffice.

"Look for yourself, if you don't believe me," Lily folded her arms, "if you don't believe her."

Kate opened the album and was wary of what she would stumble upon. She flipped to the first page and immediately recognized Elle, although she was most likely a teenager in the photos, her eyes, that hair, my God, Kate thought to herself, that smile, it was her. In the photos, Elle was pushing a young girl with blonde curls on a swing, in another, the same girl was riding her shoulders, both smiling as Elle ran through the yard. Kate shuddered, remembering the last time she saw Elle. Unbeknownst to them, Aidan had crept into the living room and peered over Kate's shoulder; his tiny voice startled both Kate and Lily.

"Who's that, Aunt Kate?" he pointed to his mother in the picture.

Kate slammed the photo album shut and looked to Lily, who was waiting to hear what she was going to say to the little boy. Kate's eyes filled with saline.

XXX

Across town, Jack Shephard was making a routine stop at The Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, to visit Hurley. It was reported to him that Hurley had been refusing to take his medication and would only speak to Jack. When Jack inquired why Dr. Stillman didn't attempt to speak to Hurley himself, the doctor replied that Hurley's therapy was rendered useless. Confused, Jack asked him why that was.

"Because he doesn't think I exist," he entered a code on Hurley's door and allowed Jack inside.

"Hey, Hurley," Jack took in his surroundings, the bleak walls, the drab bed sheets, the ratty robe Hurley had been wearing for months. Hurley didn't turn to him, instead he kept his face towards the window and responded,

"Hey, Jack."

Jack could hear the defeat in his voice but mustered on, "Why aren't you taking your meds?"

Hurley retorted that it was because they were all dead.

"All of us, the Oceanic 7, we're all dead, we never got off that island."

Jack had heard this all before and was beginning to get sick of it. However, Hurley was his friend, he was Aidan's godfather, and it had been months since he was able to bring Aidan by, because of Hurley's regression and mental state.

"Hurley," Jack swallowed, "that is not true."

Hurley snorted, "What did you do today?"

"What did I do today…I showered, got dressed, Kate and I fed the boys."

"Living with Kate, taking care of Aaron and Aidan, it all seems so perfect…just like heaven." Hurley's voice was melancholy.

"Just because I'm happy, doesn't mean that this isn't real," Jack sighed.

"I was happy too, Jack…for awhile," Hurley mumbled, "until I saw Charlie."

Jack tensed. Noting that Hurley would experience delusions if off his meds, he waited for him to continue, which he did.

"It's pretty cool actually," Hurley's voice appeared to be lighter, "he likes to sit with me on the bench outside on the front lawn."

"Okay," Jack sighed again, not believing him, "So what do you two talk about?"

"Well, yesterday, he told me you were going to stop by," Hurley reached into a drawer on the endtable, "he wanted me to give you a message."

"A message?" Jack's curiosity was peeked.

"He made me write it down so I wouldn't forget," Hurley laughed slightly and then read the message.

"You're not supposed to raise him, Jack."

"Does that make any sense?"

"No…," Jack faltered, "that doesn't make any sense."

"Do you think he means Aidan?"

Jack stood up to leave, beads of sweat on his forehead,

"Just take your meds, Hurley…just…take 'em."

"Hey, Jack?" Hurley called out to him and Jack turned around.

"Charlie said someone's going to be visiting you too. Soon."

XXX

Jack sat in his dilapidated jeep outside of the Mental Hospital and stared at the bench where Charlie somehow appeared to Hurley and they held their conversations. Not sure if he was waited to see Charlie for himself or not, Jack waited and waited, and when nobody appeared, he started the ignition, popped two pills, and roughly swallowed them without any water, and drove home. He pulled up to his house, the one he shared with Kate, Aaron, and his son, Aidan, and walked up the pathway, entered through the door, and found Kate scrubbing the kitchen tiles. Amused, that she was cleaning, he made a poor joke, and when she didn't respond, he noticed that she spent the next few moments scrubbing out a stain that wasn't even there. Jack sighed,

"I'm going to go check in on the boys."

Kate chucked the sponge into the dirty water in the sink, soap suds floated in the air.

"Don't you dare," she hissed.

"What's gotten into you," he threw up his hands, "you're cleaning, you're obviously ignoring me…what is it, Kate?" He approached her and attempted to reach out for her. She swatted his advances away. Kate pulled out a picture from her back pocket, held it up to him, and waited for his reaction. Jack immediately recognizes Elle, albeit a younger Elle, it was her, her arms around a young, blonde, girl. He grabbed for it,

"Where'd you get that?"

"Where do you think, Jack?" Kate was fuming.

Jack craned his neck, almost breaking it, searching the windows, as if they were being watched. Jack remembers Hurley's warning, but dismisses it.

"Why didn't you call me at my office?"

"Why didn't I?" Kate threw up her hands, "Why didn't you tell me about her?"

"I promised Elle; it had nothing to do with you; with us," he reached for her again.

"It has everything to do with us, Jack," Kate spat and pointed towards the boys' room, "with them!"

"What were you thinking," she harshly whispered, jabbing his chest with her fists.

"I don't know what I was thinking!" he shouted, his voice booming throughout the house. "She asked me to find her, but I didn't. I never tried…I forgot all about that day, I try my damndest to forget, but I can't!"

"I can't forget, Kate," he continued to rant, "Everytime I look at my son, I see her!"

"I can't forget any of it," he panted, "we lie to ourselves, we lie to everyone we love, we lie every damn morning as if it never happened."

"We lie, because you told us to," Kate pushed him away, "we lie because of you."

"Aidan should know, Jack," she wiped spittle from her mouth, "he should know that they are alive."

Jack blanched, his eyes widened in terror, as he stared over and beyond Kate's curly head. Kate followed his line of sight and drew in a deep and exaggerated breath. Aidan, holding a stuffed penguin, was standing in the archway that led to the back rooms.

"Daddy?" he whimpered.

Jack and Sawyer inched along the thickets and Elle stayed behind, scanning the rear for any signs of Keamy or his men. The metal banging and grunting became louder and Jack's face lightened at the sight. He lowered his gun and hollered,

"Lapidus?" Jack ran towards the helicopter, with Sawyer following at a close second.

Frank, who was shackled to the seat of the helicopter, tossed aside a metal box, cussed, and hollered back,

"Yeah!" Frank continued to beat at the handcuffs with a metal box.

Sawyer along side the doctor, craned his neck, and commented, "You know this yahoo?"

"Yahoo?" Lapidus bit back, "This yahoo dropped that phone on you guys so you could find me." He pulled at the bench and it rattled and he grunted in frustration.

"Well we found you," Elle came round the chopper, "now what?"

"Well, ain't you a sight for sore eyes," Lapidus purred.

"Easy, Grizzly Adams," Sawyer's gun was still raised at the ready.

"Oh, I see, she's your lady, is she?" Lapidus smiled and chortled, "Good for ya."

Looking to Elle, Lapidus nodded towards the back of the helicopter,

"To answer your question, now, I'm gonna fly you guys outta here, but first why don't you see if you can get your man here to find me something outta the toolbox and get me outta these damn things."

Elle laughed for the first time in a long time and nudged Sawyer.

"Well, Tex," she winked, "how about you do that?"

"Alrighty," he smirked, "while I'm back there, can I get you all some cold glasses of lemonade?"

"Oh hush and just do it," Elle pecked him on the cheek. She then went over to Lapidus and took his hand in hers.

"Looks like you're in quite a predicament," she tugged at his wrist, which caused him to moan.

"Easy, easy, would ya?" Elle scanned the handcuffs and thought about picking them open, but Jack interrupted her thoughts.

"Where are Sayid and Desmond?"

"Your buddies were smart enough to keep their asses on the boat because right now that's the safest place to be. Because when the boys that I brought over here come stompin' out of this jungle, you're gonna wanna be long gone."

Sawyer grunted from the back of the helicopter as he hefted the fire engine red toolbox from the rear compartment and Elle dropped Lapidus' hand.

"He's right, Jack," she confirmed, "those men are bloody ruthless."

Sawyer snickered and Jack raised a brow in her direction, "Bloody?"

Elle crossed her arms and shrugged, her thoughts circling around Claire, "What? I kinda like the way it sounds."

Jack and Sawyer shook their heads and while Sawyer shoved the toolbox at Lapidus, Jack proceeded to be the all inquisitive leader.

"Where'd they go," Jack asked, indicating they heard one of the men mention The Orchid.

"They're up by some greenhouse," Lapidus snorted, "perched up there, waitin' to snatch Linus."

"So as soon as we get you free," Jack was hopeful, "you'll be able to fly us outta here?"

"Hell, yeah," Lapidus smiled through his disheveled hair and his eyes gleamed.

Elle and Sawyer exchanged worried glances and Jack looked on in confusion. Sawyer lowered his gaze and asked Lapidus to repeat himself.

"Hang on, Shaggy," he exhaled, "you said the hit squad's gonne grab Ben Linus?"

"Well, I don't see what's going to stop them," Lapidus shrugged.

Elle, ashamed that they just left Hurley with Locke, bit her lip and informed Jack that Hurley had in a way "decided" to stay behind. Jack looked at her discouragingly and sighed,

"He decided?"

"It was a stand-off," Elle sighed, "Locke held us at gunpoint demanding him," she rolled her eyes, mumbling he was a bastard, "Hurley agreed to go and said he'd meet us back at the beach." Jack was not entertained. Sawyer asked Lapidus what Keamy and his men would do with the people that were with Ben. Lapidus rolled his eyes, "Nothin' good."

Jack slammed his fists on the floor of the helicopter, "Sonofabitch!"

Chapter 18 *My punishments are consequences, separating from source the original sin*Alanis Morissette

With determination in their hearts and grime on their faces, the threesome began their trek to yet another hatch, hidden in the jungle. Elle was anxious to find it, to find anything, after having no luck finding Claire. Yet, finding this hatch along with the others was like finding a needle in a haystack; you either did, or you didn't. Someone just "happened" to know where one was, for example, the infamous, ambiguous, Juliet, or a map just "happened" to be found, in Locke's case.

"Why is it that we've been on this island for over three months and we're still stumbling upon hatches?" Elle inquired, as she swatted at a mosquito that landed on her forearm. Sawyer huffed in perturbed agreement as he playfully nudged her in the ribs.

"Like the cabin Johnny Bravo's been humpin' his butt through the jungle for?" A sly smirk creased Sawyer's tanned face.

Jack halted and with inquisitive eyes asked, "What cabin?"

Elle rolled her eyes, not believing for a second that one actually existed, and stated sarcastically, "The one that houses the Great Wizard of Oz." She really had Sawyer amused as he chuckled along, "Jacob's his name, handin' out orders is his game." Jack was still baffled and not enjoying their obvious hidden jokes. "Jacob?" his voice cracked with frustration.

"No worries, Chief," Sawyer assured him with a smack on the back, "Locke's a loon." Sawyer circled his index finger 'round his temple. "We spent hours trying to locate the thing and came up empty, I'm sure he's 'bout built his own damn cabin by now."

"Let's keep moving," Jack nodded, unaware of what Locke had drug them through, and despite his ever growing curiosity, they were losing time. Sawyer hefted his rifle across his shoulder and urged Jack to slow down,

"You look like you're gonna keel over, Doc," Sawyer grumbled.

"I'm fine," Jack quickened his pace, slightly limping as they gained ground.

"Of course you're fine," Sawyer's words were bitter, "you're always fine."

"Sawyer," Elle sighed, "let him be." Before he could come back with something witty, Sawyer noticed that they had entered a thicker, denser, wooded area, and up ahead, approximately fifteen feet, was a rundown greenhouse. Overgrown with various plant life, they were easily camouflaged from whomever or whatever lurked ahead.

"Is that it?" Elle pointed awaiting Jack's answer. He only shrugged. "I don't know." Jack crouched down and motioned for them to follow suit. They observed the building with genuine concern and anticipation. "So what's the plan, Sundance?" Sawyer looked up and over towards Jack. He was about to tell them that they were going to wait it out, when Elle put a finger to her lips, indicating him to be quiet. She pointed behind them and whispered,

"Someone's out here," she pulled her handgun out and silently cocked it. Sawyer and Jack armed themselves and aimed towards the rustling branches. Creeping slowly forward, Elle let out a small chuckle, disarmed herself, and separated the braches, forming a chasm. With his back to them, Hurley was relieving himself. Sawyer startled him, by calling out his God given name, to which he quickly zipped up his pants, and turned around, alarmed.

"Sawyer?" Hurley's eyes widened with relief and a smile brightened his features as he spotted Elle. "Dudes, you came back," he walked over, "how'd you know where to find me?" Elle and Sawyer both motioned with their thumbs, indicating Jack's presence. Hurley's smile faded as he saw his old friend, whom he had left behind to join Locke.

"Hey, Hurley," Jack offered a pitiful smile, "good to see you."

Awkward as it was, Hurley returned the gesture, "Yeah, you too, man."

With ferocity in his words, Jack questioned Hurley,

"Where the hell is he?"

Sawyer and Elle knew exactly who Jack had meant and couldn't give two sh*ts about Locke's whereabouts. After he had excommunicated Kate from the barracks and tried to stop Elle from leaving, she had vowed to give him hell the next time she laid eyes on him. Fortunately for his sake, they were attacked by Keamy and his mercenaries, and Elle never got the chance. However, Elle started to believe in second chances and was itching to make due with her promise. Sawyer on the other hand, after their stand off over Hurley, regretted ever following Locke and felt guilty for trying to stick it to the Doc; something he would take to the grave, he thought to himself, like hell he'd ever be admittin' to that. Elle noticed the faraway look in Sawyer's eyes and prodded him with her gun,

"Where you at, Cowboy?" she waved her free hand in front of his face.

"No where good," he winked and pulled her closer, kissing her on the top of her head. "Don't worry you're pretty 'lil head 'bout it, darlin'," he assured her with one of his famous grins.

"Hugo," Sawyer hollered, "lead the way." Hurley lead them through the myriad of floras and foliage until they reached the dilapidated greenhouse. Locke was bustling around, picking through the potted plants, upturning the greenery, and sliding his hand up, over, and under various structured ledges. The four, stood watching him, until Jack cleared his throat.

"Locke!"

The older man turned upon hearing his name and greeted his caller with a grin,

"Hello, Jack." He turned and eyed Sawyer and Elle, nodding in their direction. Elle leapt forward, but Hurley grabbed her by the waist. She mumbled,

"I hate you, Hugo," to which he just smiled and shook his head, back and forth, until she cracked. She began to laugh, "Okay, okay, I really don't hate you, but I just want one minute with him, please?"

"Elizabeth," Locke shook his head at her like a disappointed father, "I only wanted the best for you," he looked at the others, "for all of you."

"Heard it before, Gramps," Sawyer smugly replied as he stood in front of Elle, "save it for someone who gives a damn."

"I see there's no use in trying with you James," Locke turned his attention back to the plants as if they were no longer present.

"What are you doing in here?" Jack inquired impatiently.

Lifting up a potted plant and blowing off some dirt, Locke placed it gently back on its stand and explained, "There's a," he ran his hand under a shelf and huffed, "a Dharma station below us, and I'm looking for a way to get in it."

"Get in and do what?" Elle interrupted, to which Locke discarded her question and asked to be left alone with Jack.

"Would we mind?" Sawyer growled, "Damn straight we mind, right Doc?"

"Don't bother," Jack shook his head then directed his statement towards Locke, "we just came back for Hurley."

"Let's go." He started to leave the greenhouse when Locke turned the table on him, once again.

"Jack you need to hear what I have to say."

"Oh, here we go again," Elle mumbled, "let's go, Hurley." Hurley stood aloof, his feet planted firmly in the ground, looking as if he didn't want to go just yet. Elle furrowed her brow,

"What now?" She turned to hear Jack arguing with Locke yet again.

"No, John," he spoke forcibly with his hands, "what I have to do is walk back to the chopper, get on it, and get the rest of our people off this island."

"Uh, dude," Hurley stammered, "that's probably not the best idea right now."

"Why's that, Hugo?" Sawyer frowned.

"Those Rambo guys are taking Ben to that helicopter. He surrendered himself to 'em about an hour ago."

Elle had to laugh to herself, if Ben wanted to hand himself over to those mercenary freaks, Godspeed. Jack doubled over and when he lifted his body, he accusingly shouted to Locke,

"Now, why in the hell would he do that?"

Locke dismissed the three of them, while he took Jack aside for a hushed, albeit, heated discussion. Elle watched as Jack circled around Locke, sidestepping the potted plants, his hands animatedly moving as he spoke. Locke too, spoke with such fervor, that Sawyer impatient as he was, felt out of the loop.

"What the hell they talkin' about in there, anyway?"

Hurley looked up from what he was doing and shrugged, "I dunno, leader stuff?"

"More like end of the world, stuff," Elle pursed her lips and stood with her hands on her hips, just as impatient as Sawyer. Sawyer took a seat upon a fallen tree and rested in the shade of the decaying greenhouse. Hurley plopped himself next to Sawyer and took out a sleeve of crackers. The rustling of the paper caused Elle to move in closer and Hurley held out the crackers to them.

"They came from a box Ben found in the ground." He shrugged, "They're still good."

Not realizing how hungry she was, Elle reached for one, its salty paper thin crust, melted on her tongue, its crispness snapped between her teeth. Elle raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"Huh," she took another, "still fresh."

"Thanks for coming back for me," Hurley offered Sawyer a cracker and a grateful smile.

"Ah, you got it," Sawyer nodded as he munched on a saltine cracker.

"Claire and the baby okay?" Hurley inquired and all but the crunching of the crackers could be heard. Elle coughed, choking on the crumbs of the cracker as it hit the back of her throat, at Hurley's question. Sawyer and Elle exchanged an all too knowing look that left Hurley on the outside once again.

"Spill it," Hurley ordered them, unfortunately for him, it wasn't good news. First, his best friend died, trying to save them, and now, Claire had gone missing. Hurley didn't take the news so well and was awfully silent the rest of the time as they waited for Jack to go back to the helicopter. Elle assured him that she'd find Claire. They already made sure Aaron was safe and on his way to the freighter with Sun, along with Aidan; Elle hoped they had made it. Hurley, instead of talking about what he was feeling, dug into his knapsack and ate more crackers, silently stuffing his emotions back into his belly.

"We gotta get a move on," Sawyer stood up, motioning to the greenhouse, "if those two ever quit jibber jabberin'."

"You should do that, James," a familiar voice insisted, causing Sawyer to raise his rifle towards the man behind Elle.

Ben was walking towards them, obviously run down and sweaty from his rendezvous at the helicopter. Elle armed herself and scanned the perimeter, anxious that Ben had led Keamy back to them. Fortunately he hadn't; he had come alone and determined. He brushed passed Elle and the others and disrupted Jack and Locke. Elle and Sawyer followed suit, anxious to find out what the hell was going on; Hurley ambled behind.

"Am I interrupting?" Ben sarcastically questioned Jack and Locke who were bickering about what Elle had managed to overhear that what they had been stranded on wasn't just an island, it was a place where miracles happened. Elle was taken back by the words, thinking immediately about her two children; they were miracles. She was quickly crestfallen as she heard Jack's words: There's no such thing as miracles. A part of her wanted to shout that there were such things as miracles, but she couldn't get past Jack's poor grammar. Shuffling the thought to the storage dock of her brain, she secretively hoped that her Sammy wouldn't take on Sawyer's love of the word, ain't. Interrupting her thoughts, Jack cocked his gun towards Ben. Ben just smirked and walked passed him.

"Nice to see you too, Jack."

"You couldn't find the Anthuriums, could you?" Ben scolded Locke, brushing passed him to a shelf in the back. Whining that he didn't know what they looked like, Ben gave John a bitter look as he shook a potted plant with red blossoms. He reached under a shelf, initiated a switch, which opened a hidden elevator shaft.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked.

"What the hell's goin' on?" Elle jumped in. Ben looked at Locke discouragingly.

"You didn't tell them, did you?" He huffed as Locke just looked on pitifully.

"I tried." Locke was defeated and following Ben's lead like a sad, little, puppy.

Sighing, Ben instructed them that Sayid and Kate were waiting for them back at the helicopter and that their friends from the beach were being ferried to the freighter as they stood aimlessly in a greenhouse. Jack, dumbfounded, had no idea what was going on or what Ben was talking about. Ben, knowing this, waved him off,

"I'd love to fill you in on everything you've missed, Jack," he smiled, "but you, Hugo, Elizabeth, and James need to get moving."

"If I were you, I'd want to be on that boat within the hour."

Sawyer and Elle shared a worried glance at one another and stepped in closer to Hurley. They watched as Ben got in the elevator. Saying goodbye, Ben turned to Locke and ushered him inside. Before he stepped foot in the elevator, Locke turned to Jack with a final warning,

"Lie to them, Jack. If you do it as half as well as you lie to yourself, they'll believe you."

"What's he talkin' about, Doc?" Sawyer grabbed Jack by the shoulders and spun him around. Jack winced.

"I'll fill you in on the way back," Jack pushed off, "let's go home."

For the first few weeks, Jack would wake in a mass of sweats, with Locke's final words echoing in his head; Lie to them…if you lie half as well as you lie to yourself, they'll believe you. And they did. No questions were asked that Jack didn't have an answer for, no question was ignored, rather, they feigned shock, and asked politely for another question. However, the only thing that wasn't a lie was the shock. Sun was right; they were in shock. Most of them, anyway. Jack just wanted to get off the island, why, well, he asked himself that everyday. The answer to his repetitive why, lay in a crib across the hall; Aidan slept soundly, not a whimper all night, unlike his father. Weeks turned into months, which became years, difficult years. Aidan aged, but not without consequences. His heart, weakened and congenitally defective, was the cause for many hospital trips, and finally a life threatening operation; his year old heart pumped only a quarter of what it should, causing him to have to undergo valve replacement. Something any doctor, any father, would not want for their year old child. Successfully, Aidan at the age of three, was a bright, active, and cheerful young boy. Bearing witness to his son's rough, young life, it was always a disappointment when he would wake in the morning, only to have to lie to his own son. Small lies, became larger ones, yet the hardest one to repeat, was the feigned death of Aidan's mother and brother. Lost at sea, all Jack had to give Aidan, were the memories of Elle. A woman, while he loved her, she belonged to someone else, alive, and separated from her child.

It was three years and six months later and Jack woke with the similar sweats, but this time, he had found Aidan sleeping soundly next to him; his son began sneaking into his bed around the age of two, complaining he was afraid; afraid to be alone. Jack stretched his arms over his head and cracked his neck. Aidan squirmed as the bed creaked and Jack kissed him softly on the forehead.

"Up and at'em, kiddo," Jack tussled his dark, disheveled crop of hair.

Aidan stirred, stretching his arms over his head, squinting as Jack opened the blinds to the bedroom. Aidan's dark eyes, stared over at his father; yet all Jack saw was Elle. Swallowing, Jack ran a hand down his bare chest and motioned for Aidan to get up; again. Mumbling under his breath, another trait from his mother, Aidan slid off the bed and ambled his way to the bathroom across the hall. He called out to Jack over the running water of the faucet,

"Are we going today, daddy?"

Jack swallowed another lump, this time, another lie.

"Yeah, buddy, today we can go see them."

Aidan quickly washed his face and ran to his bedroom to change out of his pajamas. Jack spied a half naked toddler as he zoomed down the hallway. Chuckling to himself, Jack entered his own bathroom to shower, while Aidan got dressed. Moments like those, where Aidan's innocence outweighed the deception, tweaked at Jack's heartstrings. The doorbell rang, interrupting Jack's minor happiness. As he buttoned up his blue pinstriped dress shirt, he walked barefoot down the wooden hall, opened the door, and paid the delivery man. A bouquet of orchids and one sunflower, in hand, Jack shouted for Aidan.

"Get those shoes on!"

Aidan popped his head out of his bedroom door and looked awkwardly at his father. Looking him up and down, Aidan giggled,

"You too, daddy!"

Jack hadn't realized he was barefoot and out of character he began to curse, "Son of a…," but stopped himself as Aidan looked on and shook his head at his father, disappointingly. "Um," Jack walked toward the kitchen, "what do you want for breakfast?"

"Tater-tots," Aidan followed him into the kitchen. Jack looked down at his son and told him he had to have something else besides the mini hash browns. Aidan bit his lip in thought and shrugged,

"Ketchup?"

"Eggs, it is," Jack fixed Aidan's shoelaces and shooed him to the table. As Jack cooked breakfast, Aidan chattered his ear off. Out of the blue, Aidan mentioned how much he missed his Aunt Kate.

"Do you think after we visit my mom, we can stop by and see Aunt Kate?"

Jack dropped the spatula and eggs splattered and sizzled on the stove. Silently cursing himself, Jack wiped the counter down, picked up the fallen eggs, and threw them down the disposal. As he fired up the switch, he watched as the blades ate away at the eggs and the shells; he watched as they swirled down the drain along with the fact that he hadn't spoken to or seen Kate and Aaron in over four months.

"Not today, sport," Jack gave him a bright, fake, smile, "it's our day, remember?"

"Right!" Aidan quickly forgot about Kate and began to shovel down the scrambled eggs with one hand and dunked his tater-tots into the ketchup with the other. Finishing up their breakfast, Jack buttoned up Aidan's corduroy jacket and they got into Jack's beat up jeep and drove to the cemetery. Jack parked his jeep and together, father and son, walked to the headstone that read:

Here lies

Elizabeth Grecco-Shephard

Child

Friend, Mother, Beloved

1976-2005

Aidan placed the flowers at Elle's imaginary grave and sat cross legged on the grass that was neatly mowed. There he sat and whispered all the things he could think of that would make his mother and brother smile. He told them about how his daddy was a great doctor, how he makes the best pancakes ever, and how his daddy tells him,

"That not a day goes by that I don't look like you, mama."

Jack rubbed his face, feeling the scruff of his beard. Aidan looked back at him and giggled, "Oh yeah, daddy's got a bear on his face; he says it makes him look extinguished."

"Distinguished," Jack corrected him.

Jack stood sentry by the make shift grave and felt the chills of regret creep up and down his spine as Aidan's voice filled the awfully quiet and still air of the cemetery. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pill bottle, tapped two into his palm, and swallowed them. He needed something to dull the pain of all the lies; he needed something to dull the memory of those he left behind.

Chapter 18-Part Two *Every moral has a story, every story has an end
every battle has its glory, and its consequence*Ben Harper

Jack led the way back to the helicopter but he was finding it a bit difficult to keep a steady pace. Elle picked up the slack and ran up ahead to where he was, leaving Sawyer and Hurley to bring up the rear. Sawyer watched from afar as Elle put a hand on Jack's shoulder and watched as Jack at first flinched but then relented and leant into Elle's body for support. Blood rushed to Sawyer's cheeks and he let out a not so stifled grunt to which Hurley patted him on the back.

"Dude, relax, it's not like she's leavin' with him."

"Hugo, now ain't the time for you to be spittin' your feel good mumbo jumbo," Sawyer grumbled.

"Seriously, though, Sawyer," Hurley stopped him from advancing, "she loves you dude; you two are like perfection on this screwed up island."

"Hmmph," Sawyer pursed his lips, "perfection never involved anotha man's baby."

"Well, no, but," Hurley pushed on, "that baby is a part of Elle too."

"Think about what she's givin' up, man."

Hurley's nodules of wisdom opened Sawyer's shielded eyes and heart to a revelation he hadn't witnessed before; he hadn't thought what Elle must be feeling. He was being selfish and it took Hurley of all people to open his eyes. He lips formed his Cheshire cat like grin and he nodded to Hurley,

"Ya know, Hugo," he began to walk ahead, but turned back to meet his friend's gaze, "I knew I always liked ya for a reason."

Dumbfounded, Hurley stuttered, "Huh, yeah…you too man."

"Gonna really miss your big…err…heart when you leave," Sawyer mumbled just loud enough for Hurley to hear. Smiling to himself, Hurley began to walk faster to catch up to the others, ignoring the ever growing hunger pains, that seemed to scream and ravage at his insides; just how long would it take to get to the chopper?

They hiked up the valley and stumbled upon a catastrophic sight; a couple of Keamy's men, including Keamy himself, were presumed dead and their friends, Sayid and Kate were standing guard around the helicopter, panting out of breath. Elle ran up to Kate and hugged her, pointing down to one of the fallen men,

"He say something to upset you?"

Kate laughed as she returned the hug, "I didn't kill that one."

"So which one did ya kill, Freckles?" Sawyer mischievously grinned.

Kate thumbed to a guy a few feet away, "That one."

"Elizabeth," Sayid ran over to her, "you are not injured, yes?"

"Sayid!" she hugged her friend, "I'm fine, confused, but fine. How'd the hell did you get back here?"

"I took the Zodiak from the freighter," he winked.

"Sneaky," Elle nudged him, "I knew you had it in you."

"Ah, hate to break up the reunion," Lapidus called out from the helicopter, "but can one of you break me free, or what?"

"Yeah, yeah, Kenny Rogers, you can sing about this one later," Sawyer jested, grabbed something sharp from the toolbox and headed towards Lapidus, "You ain't thinkin' 'bout pickin' a lock are you?"

"You have a better idea?" Lapidus looked up from beneath his bushy eyebrows, apparently having run out of options.

"Hacksaw," Sawyer dangled it in front of his smirking face and began to saw at the handcuffs, releasing Lapidus.

"Hell, here I thought I was gonna have to chew my arm off," he brushed sweat from his brow.

"Now let's get the hell outta here!" He jumped into the pilot's chair and prepared the chopper for take off.

"Wait," Hurley grimaced, "what about Claire?" He looked to Elle with distant eyes; hope was just a speck in them.

"After we drop you all off at the boat, we'll come back and look for her," Elle assured him, looking to Jack for reassurance. Jack nodded in agreement,

"Absolutely, Hurley," he smiled.

Calling out and above the whirring of the helicopter's blades, Lapidus instructed them to get all their hands and feet inside. It was difficult to cram everyone in, but they managed. Sayid took the seat in front with Lapidus, placing a headset on his head, he turned to watch Elle sit herself on Sawyer's lap, next to Kate, and across from them, were Hurley and Jack. Firing up the chopper, Elle grabbed onto Sawyer's thigh for support as the chopper began to rock back and forth. Before they knew it, they were in the air, heading off the island and towards the freighter. Feeling the wind on her cheeks, Elle snuggled closer into Sawyer's chest and loosened her grip on his thigh. His hair was whipping into her face and she turned to see Kate grinning like a banshee, her hair too, flying free; free, Elle thought, Kate's leaving the one place she didn't have to run from. How would she ever manage and would Elle ever see her again?

As they flew over the island, it became smaller and more distant as they flew further from it. Any chance at spotting Claire from the chopper was rendered useless and Elle knew the only chance she would have at finding her friend was footing it back on the island. The chopper began to quake, stirring everyone from their seats. The turbulence set off an alarm that continued to beep, as Lapidus struggled to regain the chopper's balance.

"What is the matter?" Sayid questioned him, watching the lights on the dash flicker off and on.

"We're losing fuel!" Lapidus shouted, causing the others to panic.

"What?" Jack shouted from the rear of the helicopter.

"He said we're losing fuel," Elle shouted over the commotion.

Immediately, Sayid looked to the outside of the helicopter and noticed that they were in fact losing fuel at an increasing rate. He concurred Lapidus' assumption and the pilot growled,

"A bullet must have pierced the tank!"

"We gotta find a place to lay her down."

Jack jumped out of his seat and stretched over into the pilot's deck. With taut lips he eagerly shouted,

"No, don't land!"

"What do you mean, don't land," Sawyer growled, "this bird's losing fuel."

"There's no fuel on the island," Jack shook his head, "we've gotta get to the freighter or this chopper's useless!"

"I'm tellin' ya," Lapidus was growing impatient, "I don't see the boat!"

"Well, then keep looking!" Jack ordered to which the grizzly pilot sighed and ordered them to start tossing anything that wasn't bolted down, out of the chopper. If they lightened the load, the fuel would last longer. "Every extra ounce of weight's gotta go and now!"

Hurley began tossing out the tool boxes, as did Kate and Sawyer who were busy throwing large cases out of the helicopter, watching them hit the water below causing immense ripples. After throwing out everything that wasn't bolted down, Elle shouted to Lapidus,

"How's that," she crammed her head through the small partition, "will we make it?"

"Well, I'd feel a hell of a lot better if we were a few hundred pounds lighter!"

Hurley scowled and Elle placed a hand on his face and winked, "Don't even think about it Hugo." He exasperated a grateful sigh. Jack was adamant about not returning to the island.

"Do not go back to the island!" He threw himself back into his seat and ran a hand through his overgrown crew cut. Sawyer watched as they were getting closer to, well, nothing but ocean stretched out beneath them, and pulled Elle into his body. He whispered into her ear and she pulled back her face and swallowed. Nodding, they made a pact and turned to their friends. Sawyer steadied Elle as she knelt in front of Jack and whispered into his ear.

"Tell him about me, everyday, promise me," she looked into Jack's watering eyes. Jack took her face into his hands and shook his head, telling her she didn't have to do this, but Elle, defiant as ever, mouthed,

"Yes, I do." Kissing her tenderly on the top of her head, Jack turned to watch as Elle grinned at Hurley, mouthed an I love ya and jumped off the helicopter, plunging into the deep, crisp, cerulean waters. Elle never saw the lone tear that slid down Hurley's cheek. Kate gasped and Sayid turned to watch Elle surface down below.

"Elizabeth!" he leaned out the side of the helicopter, "Elizabeth, no!"

He called out to her, but his words diminished to barely whispers as they reached her. Sawyer, turned to Kate, following suit, whispered into her ear.

"Why are you telling me this?" Kate was stunned.

"Just do it, Freckles."

Sawyer turned to Hurley and wrung his shoulder. Without a nod or a word to Jack, Sawyer leapt to the ocean below, sacrificing himself, as Elle did previously. Sawyer's lean body pierced the waves like a knife, cutting through the water's surface. Resurfacing, he wrung his hands over his face, wiping his hair out of his eyes. He was two arms length away from Elle and she reached out for his hand, pulling him close.

Hovering over the waters, Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid, watched as their friends waded in the ocean below. Elle waved and Sawyer tapped her on the shoulder, signaling that they had to swim for the shore. They watched as the helicopter faded off into the skyline and turned their backs on it and their friends. They swam together, stroke for stroke, and when they began to tire out, Sawyer and Elle waded together, to catch their breaths. Sawyer removed his shirt and Elle struggled with her jeans and boots, both waterlogged and weighing her down. Sawyer couldn't tell whether or not Elle was crying, because he had to be honest, the salt water was stinging his eyes as well, but if he knew her at all, she wasn't going to talk about it; not at this moment. He tried to talk to her over the rise and fall of the waves, but Elle swam onward, among the flotsam and jetsam that they had discarded from the chopper.

They mustn't have been that far from the island when they jumped, because before they knew it, the waves were crashing onto the golden granules of sand of their beach; their home. Panting, Elle and Sawyer emerged from the waters, slowly making their way to land. Wringing her hair out in her hands, she noticed Sawyer looking her up and down. Playfully slapping him, he shrugged,

"What," he grinned, "it ain't my fault you look that good after givin' birth."

"It's an outright sin."

They stumbled upon Juliet, who was sitting on the beach, her legs drawn up to her chest, a half drunken bottle of rum at her feet. She shielded her eyes with the flat of her palm and stared flabbergasted at the two as they walked up the beach. Sawyer and Elle exchanged a bewildered glance before Sawyer made a wise crack,

"Nice day for a swim," he chuckled.

"What are you two doing here?" Juliet's voice cracked, almost bitterly.

"Isn't it a bit early to be hittin' the bottle, Jules?" Elle walked towards her, wishing she had something to cover herself up with.

Juliet lifted the bottle to her lips and uttered, "Too late to be celebrating." She pointed out to sea with the mouth of the bottle and then took a long swig. Sawyer and Elle turned back to the water and on the horizon; plumes of black smoke were rising toward the sky. Elle faltered into Sawyer's steady arms.

"Is that our boat?" Sawyer choked on the words.

"It was." Juliet deadpanned.

"Oh, Aidan," Elle uttered the words into Sawyer's chest, before she fainted from the shock. Rose and Bernard hurried to where Sawyer cradled Elle in his tawny arms. He looked up at the couple as Rose held tightly onto a sleeping Sammy. Sawyer relished in the sight of his newborn; biting back the tears, his legs gave out from under him and he crumbled to the sand, rocking Elle as he stared out at the smoke filled horizon.

Elle found herself sketching again; this time she captured the faces of her friends before she leapt from the chopper. That was more than three years ago, or so it seemed, but their faces were still etched into her soul. The sun was just rising over the horizon and yet she found herself wide awake, sitting on the porch of one of the barracks. With pencil in hand, she outlined Hurley's distant eyes, she curved the tendrils of Kate's hair, and she tightened the lips of Jack, capturing their features as if she had taken their picture. She spent most of her time trying to recapture Sayid's distinguishing facial expressions, but all she could produce was a blur; he was nothing more than a speck in that helicopter when she jumped. Oh, how she missed him. She found herself waking up quite early since that day she watched the blackened horizon, her dreams were empty, her heart ached, and she missed her son; she missed her friends. Things weren't the same without them around and most days were spent wondering when everything that appeared perfect, would fade into the dust like everything else that had come and gone.

She must have fallen asleep on the wicker chair because she was woken up by the weight of a three year old toddler nestling into her lap. His light brown curls tickled her nose and he played with her bottom lip, making motorboat sounds. Elle stifled her laughter and playfully bit at his finger, catching it between her lips. Sammy giggled and nudged her to let go.

"C'mon Mama," he crooned, "we're makin' you breakfast!"

Elle jumped up like she was stung by a bee and cradled Sammy as she ran into the house. Feigning distress, she called out to Sawyer,

"Put down the eggs," Sammy giggled, "for the love of all things holy, put down the eggs!"

"Hardy-har-har," Sawyer grumbled, cracking two eggs and releasing them into the heated pan. They sizzled and popped as they cooked; Sawyer raked the spatula through them, scrambling them, just the way Sammy liked 'em. Elle put down a squirming Sammy who ran over to his daddy and tugged on his pant leg.

"I wanna help," he pouted, "you said I could help."

Elle sauntered over to Sawyer and kissed him tenderly on the mouth before teasing him,

"Yeah, let Sammy help before you burn them eggs."

"Here ya go, Squirt," Sawyer hefted him up and handed him the utensil, "scramble away."

Elle watched as the two loves of her life, cooked breakfast, making a mental note to capture the moment later, in her sketchbook. Before she knew it, Sammy was moving towards the fridge but not before Sawyer accidentally brushed his hand over the hot plate on the stove.

"Son of a…," he gritted his teeth, censoring himself, "baked potato!"

Sammy stopped in his tracks and turned to look at his father with inquisitive eyes,

"What's a son of a baked potato?"

Sawyer knew he had to come up with something quick, before Elle rattled him about cussing in front of their son, so as he ran his hand under some cool water, he smirked,

"Well, tater-tots, of course," Sawyer guffawed, "what else?"

Elle briskly walked over to check Sawyer's burn and whispered,

"Tater-tots?"

"It was either that or grits," he murmured out of the side of his mouth, "so I went with the tots."

"I knew I loved ya for a reason," Elle began to set the table as Sawyer served breakfast. Sammy sat on two pillows so he could reach the table and dug in like a ferocious wild cat, forking the eggs into his tiny mouth. In-between mouthfuls, Sammy looked over to his mother.

"Hey Mama," he chewed with his mouth open, "can we go see him today?"

Elle choked on her eggs and looked at Sawyer for assistance. Sawyer did nothing but nod and chew on his eggs.

"Yeah, baby," Elle mustered a smile, "we can go."

"Goodie," Sammy drank down some orange juice and hopped off his chair.

"Hold on there," Sawyer wiped his mouth, "ain't you forgettin' somethin'?" He pointed to the child's plate and cup.

Sammy, stood with his hands on his hips, and for a second it appeared he was going to be defiant, but Elle cleared her throat, and his demeanor quickly changed; he grabbed his plate and cup and put them in the sink, before running off to his room.

"You think it's strange," Elle played with her fork, its prongs pointing upward, "how excited he gets to go see it?"

"Nah," Sawyer began to clean up their plates, "he gets to see the beach and he gets to see his brother."

"Strange would be if we didn't visit it," Sawyer pushed a tendril behind Elle's ear before setting himself up at the sink to do the dishes.

"You sure you can make the trip?" Sawyer looked over his shoulder, but Elle had already left the kitchen and he could hear the shower running. Mumbling to himself, he dried off the plates,

"Take that as a yes, then."

Sawyer and Elle both agreed to tell Sammy about his brother after he spotted Elle's sketchbook. In it, she had drawn her two boys, capturing their button noses, their captivating eyes, and their wisps of newborn hair. Curious as any other toddler would be, he wondered who the other baby was. Painful as it was to talk about, somehow just speaking Aidan's name brought a bit of solace to both Elle and Sawyer. They told him that his baby brother was very sick and had to be taken off the island, but Aidan, along with their friends, had gone to heaven. Elle still remembers how sad Sammy appeared when he asked her,

"Do you think he can see us," he gnawed at his lip, "like from up there?" He pointed his tanned index finger up towards the sky. Elle simply nodded, telling him she hoped so. That seemed to appease him and from that day forward, he constantly wanted to visit his brother's grave. "In case he's lonely," Sammy told them.

After Elle's shower, the three packed a small bag, and left the barracks and headed back to the beach. They hadn't been to the beach in weeks, heavy rains had kept them isolated, but lately, nothing but sun seemed to adorn the sky. It was as if it were yesterday, making the same trip to the beach, to save Aidan's life; Elle's memories nagged at her heartstrings. They approached the sandy shore and made it over the hill, where they had buried the dead. The makeshift crosses that marked the graves of Boone, Shannon, Libby, and the others, including Eko, were still standing. Newer crosses, to the left of the already made graves, was one large cross, which Elle wrote the names of those that were on the helicopter and freighter. Beneath it was a smaller cross, marking the empty grave of her son, Aidan.

Sammy pulled at the bag that his father carried and unzipping it, he took out a book; Watership Down. Lifting it up to Sawyer, he plopped himself at the grave and waited for Sawyer to read. Sammy smiled as his father's voice filled the still air. Elle watched as Sammy whispered towards the cross,

"You'll like this," he clapped his hands, "it's about bunnies."

Elle wiped at her eyes and squatted down next to her son and pulled him into her as Sawyer read.

"His companion seemed less at ease. He was small, with wide, staring eyes and a way of raising and turning his head which suggested not so much caution as a kind of ceaseless, nervous tension. His nose moved continually, and when a bumblebee flew humming to a thistle bloom behind him, he jumped and spun round with a start that sent two nearby rabbits scurrying for holes before the nearest, a buck with black-tipped ears, recognized him and returned to feeding.

"Oh, it's only Fiver," said the black-tipped rabbit, "jumping at bluebottles again. Come on, Buckthorn, what were you telling me?"

"Fiver?" said the other rabbit. "Why's he called that?"

"Five in the litter, you know: he was the last - and the smallest. You'd wonder nothing had got him by now. I always say a man couldn't see him and a fox wouldn't want him. Still, I admit he seems to be able to keep out of harm's way.""

Sawyer continued to read and all Elle could do was wonder, how her little Aidan, the smallest of the twins, would have ever made it. A part of her wanted to believe that he was alive but she had no way of knowing. She only could believe; she could only hope. Lost in her thoughts, she jumped after Sammy squealed with delight,

"Mama," he placed a hand on her belly, "she's kicking."