Title: Reunion in Time
Rating: PG
Summary: for charliepacefic challenge #1: the original a-team. The OAT goes on one last adventure.
Characters: Jack, Kate and Charlie of course, plus Claire and Daniel.
Word Count: 5,998
Disclaimer: Not mine, nothing apart from my mythical magical Charlie 'verse.
She was leaving again, running away from the chaos he represented to a future more stable and certain. Jack watched as Kate got in her car and drove off into the night. No, he thought, not this time. He had to find some way to convince her that what they did was wrong and they had to fix it.
"We have to go back, Kate," he cried through anguished tears.
It had taken all his effort just to get her this far, to agree to come and meet him here, and now she was slipping through his fingers again, when Jack knew he couldn't do this alone. This was a secret shared by all of them, and they all would have to play a part in the solution. Whether it involved actually making the trip back or just agreeing to be exposed as liars, everyone who was complicit in the deception had to agree to tell the truth.
Jack had heard from Hurley and he knew that his friend wanted to tell. Hurley was back in Santa Rosa, plagued by hallucinations, the knowledge of what they did torturing him every day. Hurley never told Jack what had actually pushed him over the edge but he finally called Jack one day and begged him to tell. It wasn't a hard sell; for a week Jack had been visited by visions of his dead father, who also pleaded with his son to do the right thing -- to clean up, tell the truth and not end up like his dad.
He hadn't been able to locate Sayid. The Iraqi had gone so far undercover since returning that it was as if he had never existed. Jack would have to take that as consent, and he hoped that if Sayid did discover what they were doing, that he wouldn't mind. And Sun and Jin had other concerns at the moment and were not about to disrupt their lives.
But Kate's life was all wrong and she knew it. She was living a lie every day she woke up in her suburban home and played mommy to Claire's child. At the time it was the only thing to do, he got that; but now it was just another mistake that needed to be corrected.
And Jack…
Unless Jack did this his life would never be normal again. He was living some sort of cursed half life, stumbling blind through each day awaiting either death or salvation, whichever came first. He had called Kate because he had finally decided to save himself, but she didn't want to be saved.
"We have to go back!" he shouted.
The car turned left and disappeared without even slowing down. Jack stood, staring at the empty roadway, frustrated and helpless. His dropped his head and began to sob into his trembling hands.
"You're right Jack," came a voice from behind him, "we do have to go back."
Jack spun around and in his addled state, nearly tipped over. Someone stepped out of the shadows wearing a leather jacket and jeans, clothes that looked a lot newer than the ones he had worn on the island. Jack's breath caught in his throat but he managed to force out one word.
"Charlie?"
Jack had thought that nothing would have convinced Kate to meet with him again that night but when Charlie reached over the table in the diner for Jack's phone an hour later, he thought this just might be the one thing.
"Kate, don't hang up, it's Charlie," he said with a small smirk in his friend's direction that made Jack smile despite himself. "I'm here with Jack… Yes, it's really me… I know you just left him, I saw you, but can you come meet us again? I need to talk to the both of you."
"Yeah, I know," Charlie continued as Jack listened, "it seems impossible but I'm here. We're at the Melrose Diner… No, leave Aaron at home. It's all right, I've seen him too. There'll be time for that later. There's something we need to do first."
Charlie flipped the phone closed one-handed with a satisfied smile and handed Jack the phone. What Jack had needed months to accomplish Charlie had managed in a single phone call. Kate said she'd be there in ten minutes, no doubt needing to see this for herself. Jack was glad she was coming, because a part of him wanted to make sure that Kate saw him too, proving to himself he wasn't crazy.
It had taken Jack nearly the entire hour they had spent together to suppress his instinct to run. He was having coffee with a ghost, yet not exactly. The server had been by once already to refill Charlie's cup, so Jack presumed she could see him. Jack knew that his father had been a hallucination, but this was different somehow. For one thing his father had been wearing the suit that Jack had planned to bury him in.
But Charlie looked nothing like Jack had remembered him from the island. His hair was shorter and darker without the harsh tropical sun to bleach it daily, he was clean shaven and wearing clothes Jack didn't recognize. Still, it was unmistakable -- this was Charlie Pace sitting in front of him. Charlie still hadn't explained how he could be sitting there when he was supposed to be dead; Charlie said he wanted to wait until Kate arrived so he only had to tell the story once.
So instead they drank coffee and stared at each other as they waited. Charlie remarked on Jack's appearance and asked him how he was doing. This made Jack laugh.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" he said.
"I don't think so mate," said Charlie. "I look fine, you look bloody awful."
"You're dead," Jack retorted.
Charlie waved the comment off with his hand and leaned back in the booth, "A technicality."
"A technicality?" said Jack. "Charlie you drowned. Desmond saw it."
"Well, the mad Scots bugger has seen a lot of things, hasn't he?" Charlie replied. "They don't all come to pass, at least not in the way he thinks." He leaned forward again, grinned and spoke in a dramatic stage whisper, enjoying the suspense, "I can think of one thing in particular that he never saw coming."
Just then Jack's hands started to shake under the table and his head began to pound. His thoughts were dragged back to his pocketful of pills. This was all too much for him to handle right now.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Jack said, "I'll be right back."
Charlie reached out his hand. "First, give them to me."
"Give you what?" he asked.
"Don't play games Jack," said Charlie. "Remember who you're talking to. I've been following you for a while now and I know, all right? So before you go anywhere hand them over. You're going to need to be sober from here on out."
Jack stood there, disoriented from the change in their positions. He instantly recalled the night of heroin withdrawal that he had helped Charlie through. Finally, he sighed and reached into his pocket, removing a small amber bottle and slapping it against Charlie's palm.
Charlie took the bottle but was still waiting. "Now the rest of them."
Jack might have known. "That's all I've got."
Charlie rolled his eyes at his old friend, "Jack, don't make me do a strip search in the middle of this diner because I will. I don't think you want that to make the morning papers."
"Fine," he said, digging into his other pocket and then his trousers and tossing the small sample packs of Oxycodone on the table. "Are you happy?"
"Ecstatic," he replied. "Now off to the little boys' room."
Jack slid sheepishly back into the booth.
"Forget it," he said.
Charlie gave him a knowing look but to his credit didn't say anything. It was at that moment when Kate walked in. She looked around the room, saw Charlie sitting with Jack a few booths down from the door and froze. When she refused to come any closer, Charlie stood up and tried waving her over. Kate moved slowly at first and then a bit faster as she closed the distance.
"This can't be," she said, staring at Charlie in amazement as Jack watched from his seat.
"Hi, Kate," said Charlie.
Charlie stood still, as if he were afraid any fast moves might spook her. Kate slowly brought her hands up to his cheeks, feeling that he was solid and real, and when she was convinced she gasped and pulled him into a hug which Charlie returned.
"It's good to see you," he said, pulling back from her embrace but holding on to her arms affectionately. "Come sit with us."
"Charlie where have you been?" asked Kate, sliding into the booth next to him.
"Maybe we should get some more coffee," Charlie said, signaling for the server. "This could take a while."
"So are you trying to tell us that you did die, but then just woke up here?" asked Jack, trying to make sense of all that Charlie had said.
"Not quite," said Charlie. "More like, I woke up in my past. I remember drowning. It was rather scary actually but at the time I had thought it was the only way to get everyone rescued so I was prepared. It was all happening just like Desmond said it would. I was in a room, it filled with water and everything went black. The next thing I knew I woke up in my flat in London like it was all a dream. I bought a newspaper and found out it was six months earlier -- June 2004, three months before flight 815."
"How is that possible?" asked Kate.
"I don't know but I remember everything, right?" Charlie replied, tapping his head for emphasis, "Even things that hadn't happened yet. I finally understood how Desmond felt, because the same thing must have happened to him. Well, of course I knew enough not to get on the bloody plane, and as the months went by I followed news of the crash, everything I could get my hands on, because I was convinced I was let loose for a reason. I spent a lot of time trying to make sense of it all. I finally came to the conclusion that maybe what I had done in the Looking Glass wasn't enough and I still had a job to do."
"So that's it?" said Kate, "You thought you were dying but instead you just get to live your life over somehow?"
"Not really. I'm pretty sure I died, that's the thing," said Charlie, stopping to sip at his coffee, "I've been having these… complications, and they're getting worse. I'll suddenly find myself in different places in my past -- on the island, back in school, touring with my band. They only last a few minutes and then I'm back again but it's been happening more and more. I may be running out of time to be here, it's like I'm losing my grip on this point in time. If I'm here for some reason then I have to do what I'm meant to do or I won't be able to stay. I can just… feel it. All that needs to happen is that I jump back into my dead body in the ocean and that's the big finish. No encores."
Jack looked at Charlie with concern as he took all this in. He tried to imagine bouncing through time unpredictably, but his rational side refused to accept such a thing could even be happening. Yet Charlie, and from what Charlie told them Desmond too, seemed to be living proof. He recalled something similar happening to Desmond when he flew with Sayid to the freighter, so for Jack this wasn't totally out of left field. Before Charlie had made his presence known Jack would have done anything to get back to the island, but the more he thought of what had happened to Charlie, and what still might be happening, the less sure he became that it was the right thing to do.
"Have you been keeping tabs on us all this time?" asked Jack. When Charlie nodded Jack said, "If it's as urgent as you say then why didn't you come to us sooner?"
"According to your official lie, we were all dead, weren't we?" Charlie said. "I couldn't believe it when I heard. I thought that you of all people, Jack, would be leading the charge back to the island. I waited as long as I could for you to come around and do the right thing. I didn't want to complicate things for you with my resurrection. When it was obvious nothing was being done about the situation I figured it was time to step in. Time's up for you too mates. It's time to do something."
Neither Kate nor Jack responded. They were both deep in thought, stealing glances at each other trying to gauge a reaction. Jack still didn't have an explanation for seeing his father, and he considered the slim possibility that this could be some kind of trick, although he knew in his heart it was for real.
When it seemed as though the silence would drag on into eternity, Charlie said, "You do know they're alive, right? I know they are because I have these dreams about them. Claire and Sawyer and Rose…"
"I spent so long denying it that I was starting to believe the lie," said Jack. "But yeah, we knew."
"Well then why are we still sitting here?" said Charlie. "You said it yourself Jack, we have to go back."
"But Charlie," Jack began, trying to work out his words in his head to see if they made sense, "if you died on the island, how are you going to go back there? Wouldn't there be two of you?"
Charlie sighed and grimaced as if he had been caught out, "Yeah. Actually, I'm not exactly sure if this will work. But I still have to try it, because I won't be allowed to stay here indefinitely. I don't belong here."
It was Kate's turn to look concerned. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Charlie turned to her and spoke so calmly that Jack felt chills. It was the voice of a person who had already faced death more than once.
"I'd die again," he said, and then to their horrified expressions he softened the blow by quickly adding, "But that may happen anyway. It may be what's supposed to happen."
Jack was already shaking his head, "No. No way, Charlie. I had to sacrifice you once already for rescue and I still believe it was a mistake. I'm not going to do it again."
"Jack, you don't get a choice in this," Charlie said quietly.
"Why do you have to go?" Jack countered. "If it's dangerous for you Kate and I can do it."
Charlie shook his head, "Because I know how to get us there. I know how to find the island. And besides, if I don't go, I'm only going to keep phasing out here until I finally die and when I do, it will be for nothing. I have to do this. You can't stop me."
"I can't go Charlie," said Kate at last, "I have a son to think of."
Charlie rolled his eyes, "Bollocks. He's not your son Kate. How are you even sleeping at night knowing his real mother is still out there, waiting to be rescued?"
Suddenly Kate's gaze drifted off and she smiled to herself.
"What?" asked Charlie, confused.
"Remember when we went off looking for the cockpit of the plane? You called yourself the token coward of the trek," Kate recalled.
Charlie smiled, "Yeah, I remember. You were the one that told me I wasn't a coward. It just took me a while to believe it."
"I was glad you came and I'm glad you're here now," she said.
"Does that mean you'll do it," Charlie asked, "even for old times' sake?"
Kate was smiling now but didn't answer right away. Charlie took advantage of the opening and pressed on. "Remember when we hiked to the caves to get water for the camp and I stepped on that beehive? Jack tried to cover it with a bloody suitcase."
"It might have worked if you hadn't stomped on the hive," said Kate.
"Excuse me for having an irrational fear of bees," he said.
"I also remember when Ethan almost killed you," Jack interrupted darkly.
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence as they no doubt all recalled the nearly five minutes spent in the mud getting Charlie's heart to start beating again.
"Well," said Charlie, shrugging and picking up his cup to drain it, "who had the last laugh with that one? Come on guys. Let's go on one more adventure. But Jack,"
"What?" he asked.
"Do us a favour and lose the beard," said Charlie.
The celebrity of the Oceanic Six was such that if they came to you and said they needed a boat, they got a boat. In this case, the Australian Coast Guard. This was particularly true if members of the Oceanic Six claimed to know where the island was, and that there were more survivors there. If their claims were correct, it would be the news story of the century, and no one in their right mind would have refused them. Had the Coast Guard not been compliant, they no doubt would have had a dozen offers from owners of private vessels. Fortunately it didn't come to that, and a few days later, thanks to Charlie's knowledge of the bearings and coordinates, they were on their way.
It was their first night on the ship when Jack saw what Charlie had meant by complications. They had just finished dinner with the crew, and the three had all gone up on the deck to watch the sunset. Charlie and Kate watched from the railing as the sky boasted, showing off its palette of colours. Jack hung back a bit and roamed, restless on the deck. His attention was brought back to his friends when Charlie suddenly lurched forward, doubling over the rail, his knees buckling. Kate took him by the shoulders and pulled him back.
"Charlie, are you okay?" she asked, as Jack moved in.
"Yeah," he said, blinking hard, still swaying but regaining his balance, "I just lost you for a second. Maybe I'm a little seasick."
But they knew that wasn't the case.
The second time it happened was the middle of the next day. They were playing cards and Charlie went catatonic, slumping in his chair. By the time Jack was up and calling his name he had snapped back, and acted embarrassed, realizing immediately what had happened.
"Sorry," Charlie said.
"Where were you that time?" Jack asked, returning to his seat and dealing a new hand.
"I was with Liam," he said, "my brother. He lives in Sydney. He offered to get me into rehab but I refused. It was the last time I saw him and we had a fight. He still doesn't know I'm alive."
"Why wouldn't you go see him?" Kate asked. "We were in Australia, he would have been so happy to see you."
"Because I don't know what's happening to me or how long it will last," Charlie said. "I already caused him to grieve over me once. I don't want to put him through that again, if… Anyway, I want him to be able to move on. "
They returned to their card game and nothing more was said on the matter, but Jack could tell that such personal unfinished business still weighed heavily on Charlie.
After nearly a week of sailing, the Captain announced that they would be at the coordinates by noon the next day. Jack's watch over Charlie was gradually turning into full blown worry. He was still checking out periodically but now as they approached the island he began to appear ill as well. He looked pale, he moved more slowly and although Charlie would never admit it, Jack guessed he was in some pain.
The morning of the final day Charlie failed to appear for breakfast. Jack and Kate went to his cabin and knocked on his door. When there was no answer they had the steward open it up for them. They entered to find Charlie unconscious on the floor.
He looked as though he had been trying to get dressed. Socks and shoes were scattered nearby where he lay prone, breathing shallowly with a sickly pallor. Jack and Kate lifted him back onto the bed. Slapping his face lightly, Jack tried to rouse him. Charlie moaned softly but his eyes stayed closed. He felt for his pulse, it was thready and faint, like an echo of itself.
Just then there came an announcement over the speaker. "Crew and passengers, this is the Captain: we are forty miles from the coordinates. There is a storm system ahead so we will slow our approach and allow it to pass. We should be in sight of the island within the hour."
The words were like an electrical impulse in Jack's brain. "The island," he said. "I was right Kate, this is happening because we're getting closer to the island. Charlie is already there and he's dead. He's not going to survive this."
"What can we do?" asked Kate.
What could they do? Jack's mind raced. "The first thing we need to do is stop this ship. We can't go any closer for now. The Captain mentioned a storm system. It may be like the one Desmond and Sayid passed through that caused Desmond's side effects. Get up to the bridge and tell the Captain not to pass through that system. That'll buy us time to figure something out."
Kate took one more look at Charlie, now writhing in the sheets weakly as though he had a raging fever. Then she turned on her heels and ran.
Although the Captain protested, he agreed to stop the ship but insisted that the ship's doctor examine Charlie. Kate knew the doctor wouldn't know what the problem was, but she agreed for appearances. She returned to the cabin with the staff physician and asked Jack to step out into the hall to talk.
"How is he?" she asked.
"He's getting worse," Jack said. "Stopping where we are may slow this down but the only thing that will really help him is to turn around and get the hell away from here."
"But Charlie knew the risks," Kate pointed out. "He wouldn't want us to leave until we've rescued everyone."
"I know, Kate," Jack sighed, "but I don't think Charlie's got that much time. Even if we stay out here and board everyone by lifeboat, he could be dead by the time we get them all aboard. This may be what he wanted but I just can't…"
Jack broke off and turned away. Kate rubbed his arm and they remained silent until the doctor reemerged from the cabin.
"I believe it's some kind of viral infection," said the doctor. "We would do best to complete the mission as planned and return to the mainland as soon as possible. He needs to get to a hospital."
Jack shook his head. "No, that's not his problem. I know what can fix this. We need Daniel Faraday. He's on the island; he'll know how to help him."
When the six were rescued, the others were left behind, even the small landing party from the freighter. In the chaos of the exodus the freighter turned and sailed off, abandoning Faraday, Charlotte Lewis and Miles Straum to the same fate as the survivors of 815. As far as Jack knew, they were still there.
"Daniel?" said Kate.
"Is he a doctor?" asked the ship's physician.
"No," said Jack, "he's a physicist that specializes in time travel."
Jack ignored the doctor's look and turned to Kate. "Kate, I need you to get in a lifeboat and get to the island. Find Faraday. Tell him what's happening and get his advice. In the meantime, we can use the boat to start loading people onto the ship. We shouldn't waste a minute in case there's nothing he can do."
"Okay," said Kate, "I'll find Daniel."
Jack returned to the cabin to where Charlie lay. He was completely still now. It was barely possible to discern the slight rise and fall of his chest under the sheets. Jack had a sudden mental image of the way Charlie appeared after the hanging, and the same feelings of desperation and helplessness filled him now. Hold on, Charlie, he thought. You're not leaving us again.
Shortly after the six had left, Locke and Ben went into hiding and the survivors reassembled on the beach. As soon as Kate landed on shore, she was met by a surprised camp and a frantic Claire.
"Kate!" she cried. "What are you doing here? Where's Aaron?"
The day before catastrophe struck, Claire had made Kate promise that if anything were to happen to her, that she would take Aaron and raise him. Kate had been quite reluctant to agree but the very next day she had been watching Aaron alone when disaster came. Everyone fled for their lives. Kate ran screaming for Claire but couldn't find her. They had only seconds to escape, and Kate made it along with Aaron in her arms and five others. They were all in tears when they left, and it was there that another promise was extracted; this one at the barrel of a gun. They promised to never mention the island to anyone, and to claim they were the only survivors of the crash. From that day forward, Kate was Aaron's mother.
"He's fine," Kate cried, embracing her. "We've come to rescue you. And I have more wonderful news, but right now I need to find Daniel Faraday."
Claire led Kate to Daniel after Kate instructed that the lifeboat be used to start transporting survivors to the ship. After an awkward reunion with Sawyer she handed him a compass and appointed him in charge of the task of shuttling as many people as he could as fast as he could, with the emphasis that he stay on the bearing of 305 and not divert from it.
Once he left with the first load of passengers, Claire took Kate to Faraday. He was sitting under an open shelter with Charlotte, going over the maps of the island that were made by Rousseau. Kate called his name to get his attention and still he was so absorbed he waited a beat before looking up, and then another before the look of shock dawned on his face to see her back on the island.
Kate told Daniel about Charlie, ignoring Claire's gasps of surprise for the moment, needing to get all of the pertinent information out as quickly as she could.
"We don't dare bring the ship any closer," she explained, "but he's still dying."
"You said he's been having episodes of shifting since entering this time?" asked Daniel.
Kate nodded, "Yes, I've seen it. It's like his mind just leaves his body and then comes back."
"He can't stay where he is because he's not supposed to be here," Daniel explained, using his hands to illustrate. "He died here and his body is still here, but his consciousness has been living in another place in time. If he comes here, he creates a paradox. Without an anchor in his current time, and distance between the two, he'll be course corrected out of existence."
"What can we do?" asked Kate. "What's this about an anchor?"
"For now, you need to find something that exists both here and in his past that he can hold on to, something meaningful -- a constant to help him stay in one place. But that won't be enough. He also needs to get far away from the island to prevent the paradox from taking effect. Oh," he realized, continuing, "one more thing. If his consciousness is going to stay in this time permanently, he'll need an anchor going into the future as well, and it'll have to be a strong one."
"What do you mean?" asked Claire. "Can't they be the same thing?"
"Maybe, but I doubt it," said Dan. "Staying fixed in the wrong time without becoming unstuck isn't easy. What anchors him has to be pretty important and these things combined have to exist in all three time periods - past, present and future."
"We need something from Charlie's past," Claire said, thinking out loud.
"What about his guitar?" asked Kate.
Claire shook her head on the verge of tears, looking like she now wanted to kick herself. "Once we came back to the beach and I saw his things again I knew I wanted to hold a memorial for Charlie. So we sent all of his possessions out to sea."
"You couldn't have known," Kate said, "There must be something left. Did you keep anything to remember him?"
Claire thought. "I was going to keep his hooded jacket but it was missing from the tent. I never found it. I saved his notebooks but he kept those on the island. They didn't exist in his past."
"C'mon," said Kate, leading the way, "let's go to your tent and look one more time."
As soon as they approached the tent Kate saw Aaron's crib and her heart swelled. As much as she missed the little boy, she couldn't imagine what it was like for Claire. Obviously the young mother must have been pining badly because even though she didn't need it anymore, she still kept the empty crib near her bed. Still, Kate marveled at how well Claire was holding up. She had lost everything and yet she displayed a strength Kate could never have imagined. The thought that Claire was so close to having back everything she ever wanted thrilled Kate and propelled her forward, more determined than ever to save Charlie for everyone's sakes.
They tore the tent apart, searching for something that might have been left behind, but knowing also the enormity of the task. It wouldn't be enough to find a sock or a guitar string, it had to be something that Charlie cared about and Claire knew those things were all buried with him and were irretrievable.
After ten minutes Kate noticed how Claire pointedly ignored Aaron's crib. She had torn her bed apart and dug through her luggage and was now flipping through the pages of Charlie's notebooks, looking for a photograph or some small keepsake. Kate didn't want to bring it up and raise the awkward topic but the crib needed to be searched like everyplace else. Without asking, Kate reached down into the crib and pulled up the torn white blanket that Claire had used as a mattress.
"Claire," said Kate. "Claire, look!"
Claire turned and Kate saw her face darken at the sight of Kate searching the crib. Then she came closer and looked down at where Kate was pointing.
Underneath the blanket lay Charlie's ring.
"He must have left it for you before he left for the station," Kate suggested as they headed back to the ship in the lifeboat.
"I don't think so," said Claire, clutching the initial ring in her fist. "I think he gave it to Aaron. It was in his crib. If he had wanted me to have it he would have just handed it to me, or left it with my things."
"Well, you can give it back now," said Kate, smiling. "If he meant it as an inheritance, tell him it's premature."
Claire laughed through her tears, "I hope we're not too late."
There were still three boatloads of passengers to transport. Kate knew the ring would have to hold Charlie just long enough to board the remainder and then they would leave. Once they did, if Daniel was correct, Charlie would be okay. He would have his ring to anchor his past to his present, and Claire to anchor his present to his future.
They reached the ship and Jack was there to meet them. He hugged Claire quickly but firmly, overjoyed to see her safe, and then led them down to Charlie's cabin. Claire was practically ahead of him and only held back because she didn't know the way. Her face was set in steel, solid and determined.
"Jack is he okay?" asked Kate.
Jack glanced at Claire and chose not to respond. But the fact that he wasn't preventing Claire from seeing him meant that at least Charlie was still alive. Otherwise, Kate was sure Jack's protective instinct would have kicked in to spare Claire any more pain.
Kate didn't think it was possible for Charlie to appear any worse. He seemed almost transparent, like he was fading away. He was so still it was impossible to tell if he was alive, and she assumed that only Jack knew for sure. Claire knelt down beside the low cot and took his hand in hers. First she just squeezed it and held it to her cheek, testing its warmth and calling Charlie's name out softly. Finally she took the ring and placed it in his palm, curling his fingers around it in a tight fist and wrapping both of her own hands around it.
"Charlie?" she called. "Can you feel that? It's your ring Charlie, the one that you left for Aaron. I know it must mean something very special, so I'm giving it back to you. You can have it, and maybe it will help you."
"How long until we finish boarding everyone?" Jack whispered to Kate in the background.
"There were ten people behind us," said Kate. "Sawyer has two more trips."
Jack nodded and looked back over to where Claire sat muttering to Charlie.
"He'd better hurry," he said.
"I'm staying too Charlie," Claire was telling him. "We're leaving this place together, and we're going to get Aaron back and we'll be a family again. As long as you're with me you can stay here. I won't let you leave again."
Jack came forward after a few more minutes and put a hand on Claire's shoulder. Claire looked sadly up at him.
"It's not working is it?" she asked.
"As long as he's alive, it's working," he said. "You're just keeping him alive until we can leave. I think he just needs to know that he accomplished what he set out to do. He gave his life before so we could all be rescued, but we weren't. Now that we have been, maybe he'll come back to us."
Or he'll finally be able to die, Jack thought, but he kept those thoughts to himself.
All at once the floor vibrated beneath their feet and Kate recognized the hum of the ship's engines.
"We're leaving!" she said.
Jack leaned over and checked Charlie's pulse. It was still there but slow and faint. He kept his fingers in place and timed the intervals as the ship began to set sail away from the island.
"I think it's getting stronger Claire," Jack said.
She nearly startled as Charlie suddenly took a deep breath. She leaned in close and called his name and he opened his eyes, smiling wearily at what he saw.
"Claire," he said, "We did it."
"Just one more adventure, Charlie," said Kate from behind.
Charlie's smile grew wider as he reached up and brought Claire's lips down to his own. He seemed to draw strength from her every breath. They parted and he touched her cheek, marveling at her.
"The most important one of all," he said.