Author's Notes:
I wanted to explain the circumstances of their rescue in more detail. Please rate/review. Thank you for reading!
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They've done it!
They actually made it off the island alive.
Everyone is relieved at first, until Lapidus called Miles and Richard into the Cockpit. James couldn't help himself, and tagged along, leaving Kate and Claire to talk amongst themselves.
"Well, boys, I hate to interrupt our going away party, but we have a problem."
"Of course we do." James replied sarcastically.
"Besides the fact that not all my instruments are working right, I'm almost positive we won't be able to put this bird down on a runway again, even if we were to come across one."
"So what's the plan now? What are we going to do?" Miles wants to know, almost panicky.
"The way I see it, ditching is the only chance we've got." Frank explained.
"Ditching, what the hell is that supposed to mean? We can't jump out in flight, with no parachutes." Miles chimed in again.
"No." Frank shook his head, "I'm talkin' about a water landing. I'll have to try to put this thing down in the ocean. So get the life raft ready, and tell those ladies back there to put their life vests on too. Just be prepared to deal with a whole lot of water."
James interrupts by asking. "Well, Kenny Rogers, you think you can put this thing back down as easily as you got it up?"
"Yeah, man, does that actually ever work? I mean, do you know anyone that has done that before?" Miles wondered out loud.
"Personally, no. I don't know anyone who's ever done that. But in January 2002 a Boing 747 successfully ditched, out of sixty people on board, only one died."
"Could have left the 'only one died' part out of the story." James added before he left the cockpit to tell Kate and Claire about their plan.
They all started searching for the life raft, and put on their life vests, however James pulled Miles aside, out of Kate's earshot.
"Enos, if anything happens to me, can you make sure Kate makes it out alright?"
"You'll be fine, and so will she, Jim. But I clearly see where your priorities lie." His sarcastic humor coming through.
"Just promise me. She got that gunshot wound, and yeah, she can swim with it for a little while, but just in case … Just promise me, you take care of her."
"Of course man, I will. But don't do anything stupid, and dying now would be really fucking stupid." Miles answered him.
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Frank manages to land the plane in the ocean and they all made it out alive, before the plane filled up with water.
James helped Kate into the life raft, and then both of them pulled in Claire.
As they all settled in, Frank looked over at Kate."Déjà vu, huh?" Kate just nods at him, exhausted and overwhelmed by the same sense of déjà vu Frank was referring to.
"We made it, everyone's alive." Miles seemed excited.
Everyone just relaxed for a moment, trying to catch their breaths.
"Guys, we are going to have to come up with a plan here, 'cause Jack ain't here to do it for us this time?" Frank looked around the group of people, but mainly focused his attention on Kate.
"Any thoughts there, Kate?" He continued.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Well, we've been here before, done that. And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't I read in the paper back then, that you got out with a sentence of ten year probation and aren't supposed to leave the state of California. So, I'm wondering if you have a plan on how you'll get back, without being put back in handcuffs again?"
"And for that matter, I'm wondering how the hell I'm gonna be able to explain away the fact that I ended up with pretty much with none of my ajira passengers, yet there's two remaining survivors of flight 815." He looked to James and Claire.
"And you Miles, hell, where the hell did you come from. Same goes for Richard over there. Seems all of us have to think of something, and it better be something good."
They all look at each other, until Richard finally spoke up.
"We need to find land, and I should be able to get in contact with the island, and."
"Meaning what exactly, because I ain't going back." James interrupted him mid sentence.
"I will talk to whoever is in charge now. He'll tell me what to do and provide me with the resources to carry out the plan." Richard explained further.
"Resources? What resources?" James chimed in again.
"Fake passports and such. Depending on what is decided on", said Richard.
"What makes you think that there is even an island left to contact? Or a new Jacob to tell you what to do? Last thing we all saw was the island sinking to the bottom of the ocean." James looked at him, not convinced of this idea.
"If the Island had actually sunk, we wouldn't be here right now. We'd all be dead." Richard looked at all of them, trying to see if they all understood what he was saying.
"So what? If we reach a boat or a coast somewhere, what are we supposed to do, until you got some answers back from the island? People are going to wonder who the hell we are. Besides, what happens if the doc didn't make it, and there is no new Jacob?" He tried to ignore Kate's stare when he mentioned Jack.
Before Richard could answer, Kate chimed in, "He's offering to help, but if you have a better plan, James, then I'd love to hear it?" She looked over at him challenging him and he looked back at her somewhat defeated.
He sighed, and said "I don't. " He leaned back and tried to relax against the somewhat soft side of the raft. He didn't want them to go back to the island, nor did he want Kate to end up in prison.
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They all were in shock, no doubt. There was silence among them for quite some time, until Lapidus spoke up again.
"We have to say we are from the Ajira flight, and you all were on it. Kate was on it to begin with. And you have to just be other passengers."
The all stared at him in disbelieve.
"You just want us to make up some names?" Claire spoke up for the first time.
Pretty much." Frank blurted out.
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After almost two days of floating in the water, with no food or water, they saw the light of a boat in the distance. They all yelled for rescue, and when the boat seemed to come towards them. They quickly tried to cook up a story amongst them all, about how the flight went down, and where they'd been.
When the boat got closer, Frank was in shock. He couldn't believe what he saw.
"Son of a bitch, Kate, would you look at that? This can't be true?"
When Kate looked what Frank was talking about, she said, "Oh my god, that's impossible."
"What going on? Care to fill us in here. Should we be paddling the other way, Freckles?" He was growing concerned.
"No, we're saved. We're gonna be just fine." She actually gave James - who was sitting to her left - a hug out of excitement.
But then Frank looked at her, and both of them realized something, and Kate's eyes grew sad.
James noticed the sudden melancholy and got worried once more, "What is it, just spit it out, you two."
"It's the searcher."
"I can see that, I can read. Why were you all smiles and now sad faces again, who the hell is it?"
"It's Penny. Desmond's Penny." Kate tried to explain.
"Wait a minute? This is actually Pennies boat?" Claire wanted to know, remembering Charlie's prediction of the freighter not being Pennies Boat from all those years ago.
"Well, I'll be damned. So we won't have to lie about who we are." James seemed relieved.
"Not if she's on board, so let's hope." Frank answered.
The boat had reached their raft, and as the men on the Searcher helped them get onto the boat, Frank could already see Penny on deck, her eyes scanned the faces of everyone on the raft.
"What happened? What are you doing here?" Penny asked the obvious question, as everyone stood before her.
"We could ask you the same thing?" Frank answered as he gave Penny a hug too. "But to answer your question, we crashed in the ocean again, but this time with a plane, and as you can see some other people. But really, what are you doing here?"
Penny was obviously confused and surprised to say the least, but gathered her thoughts rather quickly, when she answered. "My father, he kidnapped Desmond out of the hospital, and I've followed the coordinates that he used for his submarine. Do you know anything about Desmond? Have you seen him?"
"Yes, we've seen him." James answered.
"So, he's alive? He's okay then?" Penny searched James' face for confirmation, not knowing who she was talking to.
"We don't know that, but he was alive when we last saw him?" Kate chimed in now.
"When you last saw him? What do you mean, Kate? Why isn't he with you?"
"It's a long story, but apparently Richard here has a way to get in contact with whoever is left on that Island. He can find out what happened to Desmond. So Richard, wanna tell us where to go from here?" James was eager to get answers, not just for Penny but for all of them.