Note: I've loved Lost from day one, but I could never really bring myself to write fanfiction for it. This has been on my mind for a while, and finally pushed it way through my brain to be written. I doubt it would ever happen, but that still doesn't mean I don't like the idea haha. Here goes.
Kate saw him. The same scruffy man from that morning. She had wandered into her kitchen for a glass of orange juice he was waiting outside her window. By the time she left the house for groceries he was gone. But now, there he was again. He was a man in his early thirties with glasses, a worn leather jacket, and uncontrollable blonde hair on his head. Unlike this morning though, now the thirty something man was staring right at her. "Thanks, Hannah," Kate mumbled to the woman at the counter before taking hold of her bags and walking away. The thought "act natural" came into her head, something that she had become very used to when people spotted her on the street. Pretend like she wasn't special. Like she didn't just come from an amazing place, and leave so many people behind. But she had always been good at lying. Lying didn't bother her one bit.
She pulled out her keys from her side pocket, twisting just slightly to look behind her. His black boots were following her now. The slight click of the rubber on pavement got louder and louder. He was walking quicker. Trying to catch up. Kate placed her car key between her middle and pointer finger making a make shift knife. Maybe he just wanted an autograph, she thought, but she still held on tightly to her key. After being on the island for so long, she learned that nothing was ever that easy.
"Excuse me," A voice that had to be his asked. Kate couldn't help but be surprised. The voice was calm, non-threatening, and familiar at the same time. Maybe the island had made her jumpy. She turned around slowly to get her first good look at the man up close. He was still the same man who was seemingly stalking her all day. But now she saw the look on his face. Panic mixed in with hope. "Excuse me, I'm…I was wondering if I could talk with you for a moment."
Kate's fingers tightened around the key. "Who the hell are you?" She asked in a quiet but heated voice. "You've been following me all day and you expect to sit down and-"
"Please," The man said holding out his hands. "I've just been trying to gather the courage to talk to you. You can…put your key away I don't want to hurt you. Couldn't really if I wanted to," He added on. After all, he was about Kate's height and weighed practically nothing. There was truth in that, he probably couldn't hurt a fly. Kate put her keys back in her pocket although she still kept them tightly in her hand. "I just want to talk. You're Kate Austen, right? From Oceanic 815? My brother was on the plane."
It clicked in Kate's head even before he said who his brother was. The uncontrollable blonde hair. The accent that she couldn't place until now. "My name is Liam Pace. My brother was Charlie. You said he…he drowned a little before you were saved. And I just…I just wanted to talk to you about him."
Kate didn't know what to do. Run, was the only thing she could think of at this point. This was something that the Oceanic Six never counted on. Having to tell siblings and parents that they were sorry, about lost family members. Members that they swore died in the crash, when more often than not, they were simply left behind. This fact quickly became a grim reality when Kate was visiting Sawyer's daughter, in fact, she had to pretend that she was an old family friend. They had to lie because they were dead according to Jack's plan. But Charlie, he was alive for a time according to that same plan. Why Jack chose him to live for a short while she didn't know, but right now she was wishing that he chose someone else. At least Kate wouldn't have to lie about Charlie's current state to his brother. Charlie was dead there was no way around that. Yet, everything that fell in between was false.
"I understand if you're uncomfortable about it, but I kinda feel like at least deserve to hear about him," Liam said as if he was holding his breath. "We didn't part on really good terms. And I would do anything to…" He bit his lip and laughed to himself. "I even went to psychics. Some spoke to me through them, but they didn't know bullocks about the band we were in. DriveShaft. Any of it. One even told me that he was reincarnated as a moth. Helpful yeah? It just seems like you're one of the few that can give me answers."
Kate stared at Charlie's brother for a little while longer. They didn't have similar facial features, but their eyes were exactly the same. She remembered sitting on the beach with Charlie often musing about the latest danger or philosophical dilemma on the island. Kate never really had the time to mourn his passing, those last few weeks leading to their "rescue" was too busy. And now, maybe she owed it to Liam.
"Fine," She said quietly. "But you have to come back to my place with me. I need to check on my son."
Liam nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, that's fine. I know how it can be. I have a daughter myself."
When they reached Kate's home a few minutes later, Liam couldn't help but gawk. "Bloody hell. Oceanic must have felt really bad."
"Something like that," Kate said grabbing her bags and heading into the house.
"We never got a penny. I mean, the families. Not that I would want any. It won't bring him back," Liam mused. His hands in his pockets now. The delicate eyeglasses on his face seemed out of place. Kate remembered seeing a picture of him now. When he was Liam Pace, the latest hot rock star to fall to heroine. Now he looked like a soccer dad.
Kate opened the door for him and slipped inside. She waved to her nanny who was watching the game show network. "Louisa, you can go home now. Thanks for watching him."
"No problem. See you tomorrow?" Kate only nodded and stayed silent until the woman grabbed her things and left. Liam didn't seem to feel any awkward silence, his eyes were now staring at her living room in awe. He must have been one hell of an addict, Kate thought to herself, he must have squandered all of his money right off. While it was a nice place, she knew that a rock star would be able to afford much more. Kate watched the older version of Charlie, studying him like he was studying her living room. She never got the full story on Charlie's relationship with his brother. That he saved for Jack. Ironic now. If all had gone well, Charlie would have probably been Jack's brother in law.
"So what was it that you wanted to know?" She asked abruptly after Louisa's car disappeared from the driveway. "What he was like those days after the crash?"
"Yeah, yeah partly. Yeah." Liam said rubbing his forehead, pushing away some sweat he found there.
Kate didn't find the room that warm. Then again she got used to it in the jungle. "Can I get you a drink?"
"Yeah, that would be…water please," Liam requested. Kate nodded offering him a tiny smile. She slipped into her kitchen and pulled a water bottle out from her fridge. Why did she feel like this wasn't going to be as simple as telling Liam that his brother was a good man? Maybe she was just too damn paranoid. But ever since Claire visited her that night…Kate couldn't help but feel paranoid.
Kate returned back to the living room to see Liam looking at a picture of Aaron. One of the first that she took of him. He was wearing a blue set of overalls. It had been a gift from Nadia and Sayid, and although she couldn't imagine Sayid of all people picking out baby clothes she treasured it. She missed her friend wishing that he decided to stay closer to her somehow, but she had to be glad that he was finally with the woman he loved.
"Is this your son?" Liam asked quietly.
"He is," Kate answered then passing Charlie's brother the water bottle. Hands, much like her friend's, reached out to take it.
"Thanks." Liam simply held the bottle and waited. "You…you were saying. About Charlie."
"Oh sorry, yeah," Kate stammered taking a deep breath before lying, "I didn't know him too well. But he was very nice to me. Helped me deliver my baby even. He was nervous, but always a nice guy. Sat with me. He was…jittery. When he kicked the drugs out of necessity, but he was still…"
"Nice, huh?" A shadow of a grin was on his face.
"Yeah. I'm sorry I really can't come up with anything else to say." That discomfort was only growing as she stood by longer. Liam's face seemed different since she went to get him the water. She couldn't put her finger on it. But something was very different.
"He helped you with your delivery. The baby. Aaron?" Liam asked almost like he was a reporter. Re-checking his facts.
Kate sat down on the arm of her sofa, and crossed her arms. "Yes, he did. Helped me take care of him too. I think he was more of a natural at it than I was sometimes." Wasn't that the truth? When Claire had Aaron, Kate was afraid of dropping him. Hurting him. But Charlie fell right into the fatherly role, and despite his failings, he always had good intentions.
Liam's eyes returned to the same picture of Aaron. The one with the blue overalls. "He always liked kids."
Kate stared down at the table in front of her not yet sure what to say. Her comfort zone was crossed now. He was spending too much time looking at Aaron. And she could only come up with so many lies. What she could do to get him to leave?
Liam's quiet voice interrupted her thoughts. "So, he drowned? Jack Shepherd said that he drowned."
She nodded, quick to agree with him again. "Yes. Right before we were rescued. He was out for a morning swim. His…his body washed up later that day. We couldn't find him."
Liam's eyes now faded down. Quietly, he whispered, "That's a load of shit."
"Wha…excuse me?" Kate's green eyes grew at his audacity. No one questioned them. No one. Why should he be any different? But he was right. Maybe that was what was scaring Kate all along. That Liam had somehow found out the truth.
"Charlie was a good swimmer," Liam said all too quickly. "Our Da taught him when he was just little. He swam in the ocean all of the time."
Kate gulped and shifted her eyes away. He didn't know everything, but he caught their bluff. She quickly moved to regain composure and their secrets, "I don't know what to tell you. That's what happened. He drowned." It was the truth. It was.
"Momma?" A small voice came from the stairs. Aaron. He was holding onto his blanket tightly. "Bad dreams."
"Again?" Kate asked with a frown bounding over to Aaron and holding him in her arms. She heard Liam's steps move closer to her. To her and her baby. But she didn't move. Instead she held tight onto Aaron, burying his head in her chest and wishing that Liam would just go away.
"The other thing…that bothers me about all of this…is that you said he was five-weeks old when you came back home. That means that you must have been six months pregnant on the flight. Something that I think would have been mentioned in your arrest papers," His voice was getting louder and louder with every word.
Kate turned around to look at him, her eyes blazing. "I have to put my son down." She moved up the stairs ignoring Liam completely. But the ex-rocker didn't care. He followed her up.
"And even with that, Dr. Shepherd said at your hearing that you saved everyone. I was around when my wife was six months pregnant, she would have never been able to swim in those conditions nonetheless save everyone else. It's impossible that you could be such a hero when you were that pregnant," His words were now on the brinks of screams.
Aaron held on tightly to Kate, as she rushed away from Liam as if he would leave without their presence. The loud noises were getting to be too much for Aaron. His face turned beat red and he started to whine. A sure sign that crying was on the way.
"None of it adds up. None of it," Liam cried. If Kate would have turned around she would have seen the desperation in his face. "I did research on that island you landed on. Hundreds of planes fly past it on a weekly basis. You're telling me that not one of these planes would realize that you were down there?"
Kate gently placed Aaron in bed now, fully crying and covering his face. "You have to stop! I need to put my son-"
"Your son!?" Liam shouted then letting out a harsh laugh. "He isn't your son. Tell me how he resembles you in the least. There is no one in your family that has had blue eyes. Not one. Don't you think that's a little odd? And on top of all of this, no one has had the guts to ask you who the hell the father is."
Kate took hold of Liam's shirt and pushed him out of the room, closing the door behind her. Aaron was still crying. "You get out of my house."
Liam seemed to have a proud, but bitter look on his face now as he said, "You are lying, I knew it. All of you have been lying-" A slap to the face stopped him from continuing.
"If you don't leave I'm going to call the police," Kate said in a voice that she hadn't used since she left the island.
"I had a dream," Liam blurted out. "I had plenty of dreams after the plane crashed. What would have happened if I would have taken Charlie's offer? If I would have made him stay in Sydney. Anything I could do to get my baby brother back. But then that day you came back I had one that…I can't get it out of my mind. It was so real. Charlie was there in my room with me. And all he said over and over again, was that the baby wasn't yours. I tried to get him to talk to me but all he said was 'he's not her child, he's not her child.'"
It sounded all too familiar. The faces coming to them at night. Faces of those left on the island. Dead or alive. Maybe Jack was right, they had to go back. No. Claire warned her. Kate shut off her thoughts. She had to get rid of Liam. He couldn't go on believing that Aaron wasn't hers. "I was willing to answer questions but-"
"I don't think you understand Kate. I wasn't just here to hear about his last days. You confirmed my fears. You'll be hearing from my lawyer soon," Liam said now almost calm having run through so many emotions in only a minute or two.
Kate snorted almost finding the idea comical in the emotional situation. "What you're going to sue me for? Not telling the world who the father of my baby is? Because it's none of your goddamn business who it is."
"No. I don't need you to tell me who his father is. I already know," Liam mumbled before rushing down the stairs and dropping off the water bottle on end table by the door. "I'm going to sue you for guardianship of Aaron."
Kate's whole world seemed to stop. She paused in the stairwell and stared at Charlie's brother in horror. There was no way that Charlie was Aaron biological father. She knew that. But she also knew that if they tested her, the world would learn that Aaron wasn't her's either. The plan would be ruined. But when Liam turned back to look at the brunette, confidence was back on her face. "You wouldn't stand a chance. I only knew Charlie for a short while. How could he have gotten me pregnant and how could I have had the baby in such a short while?"
"Kate," Liam started talking to her slowly. "I look into that little boy's eyes and I see my brother looking back at me. Aaron is Charlie's son. I'm convinced of it."
"You're wrong," Kate practically growled. Someone would have to tear Aaron from her dead hands to get him away from her.
"Yes, well, we'll see. You better attend to him," Liam said raising his head towards the upstairs. Aaron's screams were still permeating the air. "It's not fair to let him cry alone like that." With that, he closed the door behind him and hitched a cab a few minutes later. Kate stood in utter shock for a few moments. What would she do? What could she do? Find samples of Claire and give them to the judge as her own? Suddenly Kate felt sick. She didn't think that this was what Claire ever had in mind for her child.
Another shriek from Aaron reminded her that she needed to attend to him. And for the rest of the night, Kate lay in bed with her son beside her. Rubbing his hair gently while he finally slept, and she however cried all night.