He saw from across the bar and recognized her from earlier in the day. The shy, mousy nurse at the medical conference. He was in Atlanta, far away from his family in Los Angeles and he was starting to get lonely. The thought of his wife and son gave him a twinge of guilt and he looked away, but before he could change his mind about what he wanted, he looked again. She sat by herself, not really paying to the other patrons in the bar. He decided to change that.
"Don't you just hate these conferences?," He asked as he took an available seat next to her.
She laughed a little. "Yeah, I hate crowds."
"Me too. I like one on one interaction with people."
"I'm not with a group, is that why you decided to bother, I mean, interact with with me?"
"Of course.," He chuckled.
She gave him a sly look, then a smile. He seemed nice enough. At least he had a sense of humor. She held out her hand.
"My name's June Caldwell."
He took her hand and shook it. "I'm Christian Shepard."
Some time later, instead of administering medical treatment, June was the recipient. She was giving birth to her daughter. Damn that man, Christian. She had managed to keep her nose to the ground and focus of her career instead of starting a family and one night changed that all for her, but not for him, no. He never so much as called her after she woke up the next morning after that evening at the bar that led to her hotel room. Hell, word probably hadn't reached him of her pregnancy. The nurses were all around the baby, and with her experience, June knew it was one too many nurses.
"We think some fluid is in your baby's esophagus so we're taking her to the NICU and try to suction it out, ok?"
June nodded her head numbly. At least after all the events of the last nine months, at least after having to leave her job for maternity leave she could at least have a healthy child. Instead a doctor walked into her room about half an hour later. He didn't look like he had good news.
"Ms. Caldwell, we took a look at your baby. Even after clearing out her throat we didn't get any kind of audible response. We did an x-ray."
"What did you see?"
"That's just it, we didn't see anything. Your baby has no larynx. She's not going to have the ability to make verbal communication."
"Is that going to hurt her?"
"Well, no. Needless to say, however, life will be more than a little difficult."
June looked at the doctor stubbornly.
"She'll be fine. Now, let me see my baby."
One of the nurses came in a little later as June was holding her baby.
"What are you going to name her?," The nurse asked her.
"Blythe.," June answered looking down at her daughter.
"That's pretty. What does it mean?"
"It means 'joyus and carefree'.," June answered.
A few days after bringing her new baby home, June received a phone call. She was taken aback by the number on the caller ID. She didn't know of anyone in Australia who would be calling.
"Hello?," she answered hesitantly.
"Is this June? June Caldwell?"
"Yes."
"I hope you don't mind my calling, but a mutual friend told me you just had a daughter."
"Yes, I did."
"Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"I don't mean to pry, but the purpose of my call is very important. This mutual friend we have, he said the father was a doctor you met at a medical conference."
"That's right.," June answered suspiciously. "Although I think that's more information than you're entitled to. I'm keeping that private.," June continued with a bit of harshness in her tone
"Please, don't hang up.," the caller pleaded. "My name is Carole Littleton, and I am asking about the father for a very important reason. Is his name Christian, Christian Shepard?"
"Yes."
Carole sighed. "I have two year old named Claire. He's her father too."
The two women kept contact from that day forward. They decided just because Christian didn't want his daughters, they could at least have each other. June's little girl met her older sister two years after the phone call. June and Carole became close, almost like sisters themselves through the experience.
Carole and Claire flew from Sydney Australia the United States and were soon at the home of June and Blythe.
"Blythe, your sister's here!," June called out as Claire walked through the door eagerly while her mother and "aunt June" hugged each other warmly. Her mother had told her she had a sister, but she had never met her. All her young mind was to comprehend at that was that she had a sister that lived far away and she was finally going to see her.
A little two year old brunette walked in the living room, her big brown eyes full of excitement.
"Hi!," Claire exclaimed. Blythe gave her a friendly wave. "My name's Claire, what's yours?" Instead of the response she had hoped for, Claire saw Blythe shake her head.
"Mommy, why isn't she talking?," Claire asked.
"Sweetheart, we talked about in on the plane. Blythe can't talk like you and me. She can still play and run just like you, that's the only thing that's different."
Despite the rocky start to their sibling relationship;the girls grew close, so close in fact that twenty years after this meeting Blythe would fly to her sister's side and fly back with her to the United States in her time of need, but before that, there was another fated meeting.
"Hey, Jim wanna get drunk tonight?," Chad asked he took another drag of his cigarette.
"Hell yeah, man. One problem. We're both broke. We need money and someone who will buy it for us."
Chad looked up in question."Where's your ID?"
"I got busted. The guy said he wouldn't press charges, but he cut it up."
Chad sat and thought for a minute.
"Let's go to the mall and let you do your thing. We'll worry about buying the drinks when we get to that point."
James pondered the idea for a moment then smile slyly.
"Good idea, man. Let's go."
The two boys got up, and walked up the stairs from the basement. James' aunt was in a recliner watching T.V., and the sound of his uncle in the bedroom coughing could be heard.
"Where you goin'?," His aunt asked harshly.
"Out.," James answered sharply.
"Are you gonna get drunk again when you get back? I'm tired of this shit, you're uncle's in there dyin' of a brain tumor...," His aunt began before he cut her off.
"Yeah, yeah.," He said.
"My ass 'yeah yeah'! I swear to god when you turn eighteen you're outta here! You're only here 'cause we got more foodstamps for you!"
James' eyebrows furrowed in anger and he clenched his teeth.
"I hope you damn starve when that day comes, but it'll take awhile, fat ass!," James hollered out as he slammed the living room door shut, walking outside. He and Chad got into the car and took off.
The mall was crowded that day, as with anyone other Saturday. James stood at the entrance as Chad went inside after parking the car. James waited until incoming traffic slowed down and outgoing traffic sped up.
He waited until he saw his target, a middle aged couple with arms full of bags and they looked like they were in a hurry. He put his face on.
"Hi, I'm sorry to bother you, but I need some help over here.," He rambled, trying to looked worried and scared. "Me and my friend drove over here, and his gas gauge is messed up and we ran out of gas, and we called his mom, she has a gas can and she's bringing it, but she's broke and we don't know how to get the car home..."
"Yeah, yeah.," The man said in an annoyed tone as he pulled out his wallet and gave the teenager a ten dollar bill. "There's my good deed for the day, now scamper off and do yours."
"Thank you sir.," James said as he hurried away into the mall. Now for Act II as he called it.
He walked into the food court and pretended to make call on a pay phone as a patron stood at the next booth.
"Mom, mom!," James exclaimed into the phone. "Someone robbed me! I laid my wallet down when I was ordering food, and I laid it down for ONE SECOND, I swear, and I went to pay for my food and opened it...," He said, as he forced tears in his eyes and made his voice for watery. "Yeah, ALL of it. No, I hadn't paid the bill yet. I know it was stupid, I'm sorry!"
"Sweetheart.," A kindly old lady spoke up. "I hope this helps. ," she said handing Jame a twenty dollar bill.
"Yes ma'am.," James said feigning sheepishness. "Thank you."
As the old woman walked away out of his sight, James reached into his wallet. Thirty dollars, more than enough. He decided to go find Chad. As he made his way through the mall, James walked across a large open area with fountain and bench in the center. There was a little girl on the bench by herself clutching a blue balloon and crying. He thought for a moment to just keep walking, the kid's parents had to be somewhere around. He waited for a moment. No mom and dad to be seen. He groaned as his conscious got the best of him. He walked over to the bench.
"Hey, little girl, you o.k.?," He asked. The little girl shook her head.
"Where's your mommy?" The little girl shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. James gave an exasperated sigh.
"Anybody lose a kid?," He called out. No response. "Come on, let's go to the security room and we'll find her for you.," He said as he took her hand. The little girl nodded in approval and wiped her eyes with her free hand. He grew a little angry at the parents as walked across the walkway with the little girl. She couldn't be any more than four years old. They should've been keeping a better eye on her.
"What's your name?," James asked her. She looked down shyly
"Oh, I get it. Quiet shy type?," He asked jokingly, getting a smile out of her. They arrived at the security room and he tried to handle, which was locked. He looked at the sign that said 'OUT TO LUNCH' and rolled his eyes. That makes sense, seeing as how kids only get lost when it's convenient. The little's girl lip started to quiver and James shook his head.
"No, don't start cryin' again.," He said in a mixture of annoyance and fright." I got an idea. Let's just walk around, and if you see her, point at her, o.k.?," He said, changing his voice to a happy tone. She nodded her head, then made a face as he put her hand on her stomach and looked at the food court as they passed by it.
"You hungry?," He asked, with a nod in response. She pointed at an ice cream stand. He walked over and ordered a chocolate ice cream cone for her and she ate happily as they walked through the mall. Not one look of recognition of her mother. The little girl tugged at James' shirt halfway through the walk and lifted her arms up. He picked her up and they continued to looked around.
"Goddammit. At this rate we ain't ever gonna find her.," He muttered a little too loudly. The little girl heard and buried her face in his shoulder and started to cry again. There was a toy store across the way. He walked briskly inside and tried to find something to comfort her.
"You like dolls?," He asked desperately. She shook her head no. "What about dinosaurs?" Another, more fervent no. "What about a teddy bear?"
Her little face lit up and she reached out and smiled, taking the stuffed bear. He walked over to the counter.
"That'll be sixteen dollars, sir.," The cashier said. James wince a little. There goes the beer money. He handed the cashier a twenty dollar bill and took the change. Just as they left the store, James spotted a security guard.
"Hey, mister!," He called out, getting the guards attention. "This little girl got lost from her mom, and I guess she's scared 'cause she ain't talking or anything." The security guard looked James up and down. James looked like a trouble maker to him, he thought as he looked at him, shoulder length sandy blonde hair and scorpions t-shirt with black jeans.
"Come with me.," The security guard said leading them back to the security room. The guard unlocked the door and they walked inside, James sitting down and putting the little girl in his lap.
The security guard pulled out his walkie talkie.
"All security respond if you've come across a parent missing a four year old brown hair, brown eyes girl wearing jeans and a pink shirt." Almost immediately there was a beep in response and the guard pushed the button the hear the incoming call.
"Yeah, got a woman who stopped me right next to me, says her name is June Caldwell."
"Is your mommy's name June, honey?," the guard asked the little girl. She nodded her head enthusiastically and James breathed a sigh of relief.
"Tell her daughter's in the security room.," the guard said. He ended the call and turned to James.
"O.k., kid. Good job, you can go now."
James looked down the little girl and felt a little guilty as she looked in his eyes.
"How about I stay here, till her mom gets here?," He asked.
"Yeah, o.k.," the guard said dismissively as he opened a drawer in his desk pulling out a coloring book and a box of crayons. He layed them on the table and the little girl James out Jame lap and walked to the table, pulling a crayon out and busying herself with the book.
James got out of chair and crouched down next to her.
"Your mommy's coming soon,you happy?," He asked.
She nodded and smiled. James shook his head and laughed.
"I get it, you don't like to talk to strangers. My name is James. What's yours?" No response. Then a thought occurred to him.
"How about you write it down?"
The little girl held the crayon as someone would hold a pencil and wrote out the first letter, B. Then she wrote out a straight line.
"Is than and 'I'?," James asked and before giving the little girl time to answer tried to guess. "Is your name Bianca? You look like 'Bianca' to me." She shook her head and started to write another letter, then the door opened. A woman in her late twenties entered and looked relieved as soon as she saw the little girl.
"There you are!," She said. The little girl grinned from ear to ear and ran to her mother before she finished spelling her name. "Thank you for finding her.," June said gratefully to the security guard, pulling her daughter up into her arms, not even seeing James.
"Actually, this kid found her.," The guard said pointing to James. James stood up and gave a polite nod.
"Well, thank you.," June said, then noticed the teddy bear in her daughter's arms. "Did you get this for her?"
"Yeah," James said sheepishly, actually bashful this time. "She was upset so I bought it while I was looking for help."
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
June pulled a twenty dollar bill out her pocket and handed it to James.
"I don't know many seventeen year olds that would spend their arcade money to make a little girl happy again.," June said with a smile. "Thank you again, so much.,"
"No problem, ma'am."
June turned to leave and the little girl was facing James. She smiled and waved goodbye. James waved goodbye back, and never saw her again. Or so he thought.
Years later, they would see each other again. He would no longer be a teenager, instead a thirty five year old man and she would grow up to be a woman, a woman he fell in love with. They would end up on the same plane, flight 815 and both survive when that plane crashed. They never would make the connection to their meeting back years ago, when later, they would be lying in bed together in the hatch.
"You o.k.?," James asked Blythe as he idly played with her long brown hair with one hand and ran his other up and down her bare back.
She smiled and gave him a gentle kiss on his chest and he chuckled.
"See, nothing to be nervous about. First time for everything, right?"
She gave an inaudible chuckle in response and he smiled at her. The 'doomsday button' started to beep. James started to sit up and gave a yawn. He had been up almost twenty four hours straight, and what he and Blythe just did didn't help matters, though it was a long time coming. He hadn't told her until tonight. He left the island on the raft not knowing a word she said with her hands as she signed, but woke up days later able to understand her clear as crystal. He denied it at first, his feelings. It was only a matter of time before the sparks began to fly, and tonight they were both engulfed in the flame.
Blythe shook her head and motioned to the room with the computer while placing a hand on his chest letting him to know to lay back down He nodded in understanding and she got out of bed and punched the numbers into the computer. When she came back, he was already asleep. She eased back into bed, careful to not wake him, snuggled up next to him and drifted off to sleep too.