Jack Shepard drove home in anger. Why couldn't Kate see that they had to go back? She of all people, and her roommate had the most reason to WANT to go back, except maybe Hurley. He slammed his fists on the wheel as he pulled up to a stoplight.
And suddenly, it happened. Next to him, in the seat, for the third time, was Charlie. "Don't…don't do this to me, man." The ghost, or whatever, had been haunting him for awhile now.
"C'mon Jack. It's me." He held up his hands as if to signal 'stop'. His shades, and the tone of his words, made him the image of a psychedelic, Beatles-esque rock star.
"But…how?" Jack looked on, barely believing this, regardless. Wondering how it was possible, and how this apparition would be this cool and calm.
"You ask that every time." Charlie took off his shades, rolled his eyes as if bored. As if it were normal for a dead man to appear to a man three times.
"I need to know, Damnit!" Jack emphasized the word; as if somehow he'd get more sense out of Mr. Pace then he'd been able to the last two times.
"No you don't need anything. They need you." Charlie stared at him expectantly. Does he do this just to hurt me? Who is he to play my conscience?
"I don't know what you're talking about." Jack's eyes fell towards the road, in recluse sorrow and denial. Putting on the same façade to him as he had to the world.
"Yes you do. You told Kate, didn't you?" Charlie commented. It was true. He did tell Kate they had to go back. He'd like to think it meant him and Kate. Maybe, however, he was just warning her and-
"Yes, but…" He responded, if only to cut off his own horrible thought.
"You don't really want to return. And that's why the island hasn't let you…" Charlie revealed Jack's darkest fear. Which made Jack question the reality of this whole experience.
"I want to go, Damnit!" Jack yelled to the heavens, as if that was where Charlie had come from. Pleading with God to take Pace away and let him return.
"Then go." Even though he wanted Jack to leave, it was Charlie who disappeared. Ironically, along with his words, the light flashed green. Jack pulled ahead…and metal crunched. Jack's blurred vision faded, as a large figure came up to his window.
"What'd Jack want?" A male figure asked, dimly lit in a doorway, where two rooms lay off a kitchen and living room in a cozy apartment. Two babies could be heard cooing and gurgling peacefully, and a relaxation CD entitled 'Sounds of the Ocean' was playing in the background.
"Oh, you know him." Kate offhandedly remarked as she hung up the keys.
"I thought the same, once, ya know." The dirty-blonde haired man responded wistfully, as if giving Jack a nod of respect, despite obvious disagreement.
"Yes, Sawyer." She said as he stepped towards her, comforting. "And I…" She said slyly. "…Don't think that ever changed."
"What?" Sawyer snapped his head towards the CD player, a Toshiba model 815. "Nonsense. I had to play babysitter alone for two hours. And lemme tell you, it ain't the best."
"Well, between little Claire and Aaron…" They could barely call him little anymore, being about two and toddling around as he was. "I suppose a ruckus was bound to occur."
"No much more then my job." Sawyer commented, pointing to two rugged pairs of boots and the other numerous and seemingly random jackets hung on the door.
"I'm not so sure I approve of this." Kate cast a worried glance towards him, as they sat together on their couch.
"We're doing it for all the right reasons." Sawyer assured, her, stroking her back comfortingly and then rising to leave.
"Are you? Or are you doing this for HIS reasons?" Kate asked pointedly.
"Trust me. Jack's right. He was warning us. It was only so long before..." He glimpsed their false ID's. "Kristine and Christian Meadows were found out." He slipped on a leather jacket and some sneakers. Black Converses, to be exact. White socks, too. So it wasn't a formal event.
"Well, at least tell him-" Kate beckoned urgently.
"I can't TELL him anything. He's grown too powerful." Sawyer warned, shrugging as if there was nothing he could do and leaving.
"The Hanso Foundation…" Sayid tried to follow the logic of Richard Alpert, who was approaching him, one week after his return.
"…Has always been the enemy of the island." Ben Linus stepped out as well. Sayid grunted. Not like he hadn't expected him to show, as well.
"I'll never believe you." Sayid shook his head in disbelief. Ben had reconfirmed his doubt.
"Well you have to, after the freighter." Sayid stared at the ageless man intensely. Soured by that incident, and perhaps also at their good point.
"Desmond was a good man…and after what they…no, he…did…" Sayid wasn't generally one to drift, but he did, glowering at the invisible incident he remembered crystal clear.
"I agree completely. Too bad my mole turned against us." Ben said, and the sympathy even seemed sincere.
"R.G. has been more elusive than ever. What can we do?" Sayid was frustrated he hadn't uncovered this man's identity, while snooping on the ship and even for a week in the real world.
"Very little." Richard admitted.
"Then why do you continue?" He mocked, but now curious.
"Because we must. Our allies on the island have reasoning and power, too." Ben referred to Walt, and Locke, and many advantages Sayid could never know of. He smiled. A change in the tides had come. Sayid Jarrah was theirs.
Michael wanted to go back, too. Michael had wished he and Walt had just gotten away from the island. But they found that freighter, just as Ben, it turns out, had wanted. They were in constant communication, and all was well. Until Walt had visions again. Michael realized they were going back, and fought it.
Walt, however, said Ben didn't have the best interest of the island or the survivors at heart, and Locke was right. Diving in, he went back. Ever since, Michael had changed his mind to go back and worked with Ben more fervently then ever.
When Sayid and Desmond returned, he begged yet again to be on the helicopter to go back. Claiming they needed a week to repair the copter, he complied and learned from Sayid and Desmond the state of affairs on the island.
So afterwards, he had cut communication with Ben and, when the Freighters made it clear the three were never going back until it was deemed 'safe', the three staged a small riot and escape attempt, in which Desmond was killed.
Sayid escaped and took the copter to the survivors, kicking Michael out on the claim that it was his fault Desmond died, and having found his old communications with Ben. Pleas that he had changed not working, he resorted to drastic measures. Ever since, Michael had deemed him his enemy, and after months of groveling, the Freighters agreed to let him be a part of their team.
Everything went south after. Many encounters and such later, Jack led the survivors to capture the freighter, leaving Walt and Locke the sole Oceanic remnant on the island…so they thought. They even killed many of the members, leaving only Michael and Miles, whom they held in a cell on Sayid's orders.
The ship had drama of it's own as they tried to escape the seemingly impossible-to-flee island. Sawyer, however, was convinced by Michael and Michael to join them. Eventually, Sawyer spoke out, and was imprisoned with Michael and Miles.
When the boat began to sink, fighting the electromagnetic force of the deadly isle to escape, it ran aground other barriers too, each one a puzzle sent by either the Other's remnant or Walt and Locke. Walt and Locke had hidden Locke's group, save Hurley, who objected to his methods and began to follow Sawyer towards Jack. They were working together, each the other's disciple.
Nonetheless, everyone was forced to flee. In a selfish move, Jack grabbed the copter, and escaped with Sayid, Hurley, and Kate. Sawyer, Miles, and Michael had to fight the current on a lifeboat. Few know what became of the other survivors.
Charlie did. And he appeared to Hurley yet again, as many times as the man would deny him. "Dude." He greeted the jovial man with his favorite expression.
"Hey, Charlie." Hurley said, friendly yet nervous. He never liked what the man had to say, but he was his friend. And he did get him out of the asylum and back in a Camarro. A dented one, now.
"Was it REALLY not your fault?"
Hurley shifted in his seat nervously. "Sayid told me to get in or out. I…" He turned onto his street.
"You were selfish. They need you Hurley, need you to go back." Charlie affixed him with the dark, expressionless eyes that didn't seem to come from the shades. They came, to Hurley, from Hades itself. Or worse, the island.
"They died." Hurley denied, eyes forward and driving slightly faster.
"They didn't." Charlie responded simple as ever.
"Dude…." And you couldn't tell whether it was nervousness or fear. "…I think the dude that hit me was Jack." Hurley cast a glance to the backseat as he pulled in his driveway.
Charlie's grin wasn't telling. Whether it was wry, smiling at coincidence. Or because he arranged this. Hurley began to get out of the door.
"His light should've still been red, dude. Is Locke doing this? Causing these illusions, coincidences?" Hurley was always the brightest tool in the shed, though he may not seem it. You got through to him more than Jack, both were stubborn. Hurley's way of relating with humans might be why Charlie kept coming back to 'haunt' Hurley instead.
But of course, that was the moment, the moment when Hurley walked to look in the backseat window, when Charlie Pace vanished.