Kate was standing in the doorway of Aaron's room watching Claire gently stroke the boy's blonde head. It was such a tender moment that it made Kate's heart ache. Claire pressed a kiss to his forehead then walked towards Kate. They left the room and Claire quietly shut the door behind them.

"Thank you, again, for letting me stay with you." Claire said softly as they walked down stairs to the living room.

"I'm glad you're here." Kate said. After a moment of contemplation she added, "After what happened I'm not sure I'd even want to be alone."

Claire nodded in agreement as she sat at the kitchen table while Kate grabbed a water from the refrigerator. She sat down at the table across from Claire as she opened her water. Claire was staring at the tabletop. They'd been off the island for almost a week now and this was the first chance she'd had to really get a good look at her friend.

Claire looked ragged. She had dark bags under her eyes which now had a vacant quality about them that made Kate wonder if Claire was even present. The slight darkness of the kitchen was making the frown lines seem deeper and making her suddenly look years older. Kate had noticed Claire didn't smile as much as she used. She tried to keep up her old upbeat, positivity but Kate could tell when she was faking it. There was a haunted quality about Claire that broke Kate's heart everytime she noticed it.

Kate gently touched Claire's arm to bring her attention back to the present.

"Have you been sleeping?" She asked softly. Claire didn't answer right away. She turned her eyes back to the table.

"I try to." She mumbled to the table.

"What is it? Nightmares?" Kate held onto Claire's hand. She wanted to help her friend. Maybe helping someone and focusing on someone would make it easier to not think about her own problems.

"Memories." Claire was still looking at the table. She was biting her lip and clearly hiding something from her but Kate didn't want to push her too hard so she just gave Claire's hand a small reassuring squeeze. The corner's of her mouth turned up a little in a slight smile. Not long after that Claire left to go to bed and wandered up the stairs to the guest bedroom leaving Kate alone in the kitchen.

Normally Kate would've hated this quiet time by herself. She was avoiding her own memories at all costs. The less she thought about the island, about the people she'd lost...about him... the better. She couldn't even bring herself to think his name, it hurt too much. When the house was quiet and Claire was gone and the silence started to creep in on her is when those memories would surface.

She put the half-empty water bottle back in the refrigerator. She could feel the sadness start to sink in, weighing on her in a way nothing else could. It was like weight smothering her very soul. It ached through her entire body. Sometimes it hurt so bad she had no choice but to cry. She pressed her forehead against the refrigerator door, trying to will it to go away.

"Kate." She heard her name called softly from the short hallway that went from the living room to the kitchen. She quickly jumped away from the refrigerator and peeked into the hallway. Slowly she walked into the living room. It was empty. She peered up the stairs to see if someone was up there but no one was.

She looked around, nothing seemed to be out of place. A few of Aaron's toys were on the floor where he'd left them. The pillows were upright against the arms of the couch. Photos were still lined as close to even as she'd been able to hang them. Then she noticed the book Claire had been reading earlier was lying on the floor as if it had fallen off the coffee table. Kate walked over and bent to pick it up.

"Kate." A little louder this time. She whipped around, back toward the kitchen, with the book still in her hand. She ran into the kitchen, it was empty but it was much colder now than it had been. She tossed Claire's book onto the counter and fumbled with the child lock on the drawer that held the large kitchen knives. Once she had one firmly grasped in her hand she started to search the rest of the house.

She went around to every room on both floors, except for Claire's room since she didn't want to spook her, and no one was in the house that shouldn't be. She put the knife back where she'd found it, and put the book back on the coffee table and decided to go to bed. As she was getting ready she kept thinking about that voice. It was definitely female, and it didn't have even a trace of an Australian accent, so it wasn't Claire. But as Kate took her nightly sleeping pill she couldn't help but think that the voice sounded so familiar. But soon she was too groggy to try to put it together and as she drifted off to sleep it drifted far out of her mind.