AN: Hey there! This was just a bit of an exercise to get somewhat used to Lost fan-fiction/characters again. I used an on-line Lost Prompt generator for it. :'D It's quite old, but it was interesting. Most are not that great, some people might be out of character, etc, but hey! It's just an exercise. c: Planning on writing more Lost soon, you see, so~ Posting it anyway. :D
1.
Claire takes up gardening after she leaves the island. It's relaxing and reminds her enough of nature (which she spent so long near) without bringing up too many of the bad memories. That is, until Aaron (who seems to enjoy it just as much as her) ducks under the rows of foliage one day and announces that he is in a jungle, then pounces on Claire, roaring and declaring himself to be a polar bear.
Claire looks at Kate, and Kate looks back at her, and suddenly neither of them can breathe.
2.
"He likes the ocean." Jack remembered Claire telling him one time as she stood in the sand, staring out at the waves, Aaron in her arms. Maybe it was this distant yet painful memory that prodded him to take the young boy to the beach when he could, although he knew that this crowded ocean full of tourists in swimming suits was nothing like the ocean he had been near as a baby with his mother.
3.
With Claire and Sayid, the Man in Black noticed, they seemed to speak each other's language. Not in the literal since. It was more of an understanding that ran so deep, they didn't need to say anything to understand. He knew that they had both lost loved ones on the Island, and they were both following along with his plan to be reunited with someone. They were both confused and not acting like themselves, which seemed to draw them closer until they seemed to be holding hands quite often. He knew there was nothing romantic going on, more of a brotherly-sisterly sort of thing at least, but it still amused him when he was in a better mood.
4.
Desmond thought about the friends he'd lost on the island quite a lot. Whenever his thoughts drifted to Jin, he was struck by similarity: he'd been stuck on the island with a wife and child at home, as well. The difference, however, sent cold waves down his body. Jin had never been able to have his family reunited. Whenever he thought of these things, he and Penny would remember to plan a visit to Korea to visit Ji Yeon with Charlie, and make a stop at her parents empty graves.
5.
She's amazed. She hasn't seen him in what seems like forever, has worried about him and what he's been doing and now suddenly here Hurley is, standing across from her at the bookstore smiling and saying something along the lines of offering to catch up over a candy bar with her or something silly like that; she doesn't really listen, because she can't stop herself from looking around her as if expecting to see someone else, even though she's already accepted that was impossible long ago.
6.
Sometimes the memory of the hate in Claire's eyes when she tried to kill her for raising Aaron is so strong that Kate has trouble looking at her. Claire knows exactly what she's thinking, and it sits between the two woman like a loaded gun until they both break down and cry and hug and spend the night watching movies and talking while Claire's mom has some "Grandma time" with Aaron.
7.
Aaron loves fish, to Kate's amusement. He presses his nose against the little creatures in stores as they dart around through the water before glancing her way. She gives in almost immediately and suddenly there's a small tank of the most colorful fish you can buy in his room and he spends what seems like forever watching them.
She plasters on a shaky smile when he says "Look!" and points at the tank as one of the fish jumps into the air and then water every time he says it will.
8.
"Dude, what do you think?" Hurley says proudly, holding up something furry. Boone blinks in the sunlight, then raises an eyebrow.
"It's… a teddy bear." He observes. "Aren't we a bit old?"
Hurley shakes his head. "I'm trying to find some stuff for Claire. For, you know, the baby." He lowers his voice conspiratorially. "I know everyone's freaked about her maybe having to deliver here, and maybe she doesn't want to be reminded, but I thought you know, maybe we could find some stuff to make her feel like a normal almost-having-a-baby-pregnant-woman. Like… a baby shower."
Boone's confused look turns into a small smile, and the two begin rummaging in the wreckage together.
9.
When Jack gives Claire his spare key to his apartment he also gives her a tour, pointing out useful things like the bathroom and where they keep the cereal. Then, he says he has to leave. For some reason, she can't help but feel… abandoned. He was only going to work, for God's sake, and he had just been so nice to her. So why was she watching his retreating back so angrily? He turned around, and for a moment she thought he'd felt her look and was thinking of all sorts of possible scenarios, all of which ended with her ruining any attempted relationship with her brother and being kicked out on the streets; but he simply smiles apologetically and says he is sorry he has to leave her there all alone, but he will definitely be back later and she can call her or David if she needs absolutely anything.
When he is true to his word (honestly, it's his own home, of course he was coming back, but still) she feels some strange emotion and has to be excused to use the bathroom to wipe sudden tears.
10.
Jin and Sawyer become even better friends as they work together at DHARMA, especially as Jin's English improves drastically. He comes over to Sawyer and Juliet's house, most of the time with Miles in tow, and they group enjoy themselves with silly games (it's hard to let go of ping-pong, especially) and whatever snack food they have that night, like chips or peanuts. Sometimes it's easy, almost too easy to forget that they don't really belong here, that they're living someone else's life, but then they look at each other and become solemn as the others continue to talk and Jin rubs where his wedding ring used to be.
11.
Whenever Claire gets on a plane with Aaron and Kate, she worries. It's not as if she really thinks that the plane will drop out of the sky and they'll end up on the island again. Not… really, anyway. It's just… the familiarity, maybe. She's heard the story from Kate about how she made it back to the island in the first place; "recreating the circumstances," or something, and despite how silly it sounds she can't help but look around as if expecting other survivors to be on the plane as well, and having to think "well, I knew this couldn't last."
12.
Hurley doesn't like blood. Jack learned this early on, but it still never stopped him from expecting him to get over it when the situation called for it. He couldn't pretend to understand, not when he'd spent so long doing surgery and working at a hospital where seeing blood was kind of the norm. But he still remembers and still tries, sometimes, so when he cuts himself pretty deep on some of the glass from Jacob's mirrors (that he'd stupidly broken) he doesn't tell him, and wraps it up as quickly as he can to stop the bleeding.
13.
When Walt tells Aaron he's taking a trip somewhere and wants him to come with him, he has a strange twinkle in his eye, as if he's not telling him the whole truth. Aaron hesitates. A trip to Australia? Flown on some kind of private jet? And he wouldn't even tell him what they were doing there. He had his suspicions, alright, but when he voiced them to Walt he was greeted with one question: "Don't you have faith in me?" And Aaron would just sigh, and tell his friend "Yes, of course." The only question Walt would answer, however, was the one that mattered most to Aaron.
"I'll be able to come back, right?" He'd asked hesitantly, and the answer was sincere: "Yeah, of course."
14.
"Why do you have so many pens, anyway?" Shannon asked the day after the crash, eying the pile that Boone had collected the day before with some amusement.
"Just in case," He said after a moment's deliberation, glancing away.
"In case of what? We need to sign consent wavers to be rescued?" A stray pen was picked up and twirled around in her hand as she gave a bit of a snort.
"No, in case I need to write a strongly worded letter of complaint to the 'rescuers' if they're late," He shot back sarcastically, grabbing the rest of the pile and stalking away.
15.
Charlie looked annoyed as he looked at Hurley, a complete stranger.
Hurley looked ecstatic as he looked at Charlie, his best friend.
He really was sorry about it, but he had to get him to that concert somehow.
He'd thank him later.