Title: Can They Survive the Truth?
Show: Lost
Pairing: Kate/Claire
Summary: This story was started at the end of season 3. After seeing some of the early Kate/Claire scenes in season 6, I was inspired to finish it. The basic plot is that Kate/Claire are trying to start a new life with Aaron when they find out someone is hunting them down. Once they find out Aaron is the target, they look to their friends to help find out who it is. Along the way Claire discovers more than a few secrets Kate has been keeping from her, which add to the already tense situation they are dealing with.
Disclaimer:I don't own the characters or the shows, they are property of ABC Studios, Bad Robot and Touchstone Televsion. No profit is made from this story.
Can They Survive the Truth?
Chapter 1.
May 11th, 2010
The Island.
Kate woke up to a loud bang in the distance, something that was neither new nor scary after so much time on the island, yet it still causes her to sit up and listen more closely. After a few moments there is another bang and then numerous quick, loud, pulsing bangs, followed by a giant explosion that filled the sky with an orange cloud of smoke and fire.
Now it wasn't just Kate that was awake, Claire woke up and quickly reached over and grabbed onto Kate's arm, "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know, but we can't stay here." Kate said, getting up and packing her things, while keeping a close eye on the large cloud of smoke in the sky to the north.
Claire quickly picked up Aaron and smiled as he remained sound asleep, blissfully oblivious to the dangers around him. After securing him in her arms, she grabbed the two bags from the ground and walked back over to Kate who was staring up into the sky, "You don't think they know we're here do you? We were so careful."
"We always knew this day could come and now it's time to do what has so to be done." Kate said in a melancholy tone, turning to Claire and smiling, "Take Aaron down below and don't open the hatch for anything. I'll be back in 24 hours and I'll give you the signal and if all goes well, we'll be free to go back home and live our lives the way we always talked about."
"No, I don't like this plan anymore. It's too risky." Claire said, grabbing onto Kate's arm to get her attention, "You don't have Jack or Sawyer to help. There's no Locke, Sayid or even Ben to do the dirty work for you and I don't want you to become a killer."
"Listen Claire, I don't want to do this anymore than you want me to, but we have no choice. If they are here it isn't to bring us back safely, they are here to kill us and I will not let that happen to you or Aaron." Kate rubbed Aaron's sweet little head and kissed it gently, before turning her attention back to Claire, "We've come so far and I love you way too much to let it end this way. Just know I'll be back and never give up hope and we'll get through this."
Reaching out to touch Kate's cheek, Claire leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. They kissed briefly, before Kate pulled away, "You need to go now. I'll be with you soon."
Claire could only watch as Kate disappeared into the thick forest and that was her cue to run like hell to the secret hideaway. The ground was rough and covered with leaves and branches, some still smoking from the massive explosion that rocked the island.
Small fires began to appear as the debris from the sky began plummeting down on the island, causing Claire to run even faster, hopping over tree stumps and wounded animals as she made a beeline for hatch that she could finally see just ahead.
She stopped at the entrance, punched in the code and then stepped back as the hatch began to open. She rushed inside and began to pull it closed as fast as she could. Once she heard it lock, she climbed down the stairs and put Aaron down in his crib and walked inside to the computer room and sat down and turned on every switch she could find until the half dozen monitors on the wall began to light up.
Once she had things up and running, she began to search for Kate using the tracking device Locke had given them. A flashing red icon showed Kate travelling north along the beach, moving ever closer to the source of the explosion.
Claire put on the head phones and put the microphone up to her mouth, "Kate, can you hear me?" She waited a few minutes and then repeated her message. Once again she waited, but still not response. Growing increasingly more anxious by the second, Claire repeated her call to Kate another time.
"I'm here." Kate said in a very low whisper, ducking down under some cover as she watched a handful of men search the area, each armed with a semi automatic rifle and walkie talkie.
"I'm so glad you're okay. You are okay, right?" Claire asked, hoping Kate would confirm here wishes.
"I'll be okay, I got hit with something that fell out of the sky, but aside from a nasty bruise on my shoulder I'll live." Kate said, taking another look at the dark black and blue mark on her left shoulder, "Knowing you and Aaron safe I feel a lot better."
"Can you tell who's there?" Claire asked, hoping to get the answer she was looking for.
"Well, I know this was no accident, but I still can't make out who's here." Kate moved a little closer to the large crater, ducking down at the sight of people moving about, "There's an armed group of men searching the area, but I'll need to get a little closer before I can tell if it's them."
"Don't put yourself in danger Kate." Claire said, still not used to Kate's new life as the island's guardian angel, "Why don't you come back here, we can monitor things so much easier from inside here."
"You know why." Kate replied almost angrily, calming herself before she continued, "They are after me and if I was in there with you they wouldn't hesitate to nuke that place, as long as they got rid of me. I never wanted to put you in this kind of danger and yet here we are, in another mess I've gotten us into."
"Come on Kate, you know this wasn't your fault. Everyone on the island is in danger from these people. We saw who they are and what they did and they are not going to rest until we are dead, not just the 6 of you." Claire said, referring to the 6 survivors who got off the island and achieved a form of fame, "Anyway, I'm trying to get the camera on the north side to work, but I think it must've been destroyed from the original blast."
"I think so," Kate nodded, "This whole area is a mess. Whatever hit it made a giant crater just to the west of me, by the old creek."
"What else do you see?"
Kate peaked out from under her cover, looked around at the men wandering around, almost having a heart attack as one of them walked right up beside her, "OMG, someone is right here. I'm going to have to call you back."
"Kate. Kate." Claire yelled, slamming down the microphone when she heard the line go dead.
As the man moved even closer to her, Kate reached into her jeans, pulled out a long, sharp knife and stood up slowly. Once he moved to the beach side of her hiding spot and away from the other men, she crept up behind him, took a deep breath and made her move.
She tapped him on the shoulder and as he turned around, she smiled, waiting for him to put his weapon down just a little, before lunging forward, knocking the man to the ground. She head butted him in the nose twice, kicked the gun out of his hand and slid her knife up against his throat, "Well, how about you tell me who you are working for and I'll think about letting you live."
Blood dripped profusely from the man's nose, his eyes were glazed over as he looked up at Kate staring down at him, but he still refused to speak.
Rolling her eyes at his macho posturing, "I don't have time for your silent crap, so let's just save us both some time and you some pain and tell me who you're working for?"
He stared up at Kate, defiantly ignoring her demands, "You might as well kill me, assuming you can, because telling you who I work for is the same as death."
"Really?" Kate chuckled, wishing Sayid were here to speed the interrogation process along, "Somehow I doubt that, because if you tell me who it is, I'll make sure he can't hurt anyone again?"
"Listen lady, I don't who you are, but I don't see you taking out my boss, no offense."
"None taken." Kate said without blinking an eye, while sliding her knife across a sharpening stone, as the man looked on, "Smarter people than you have underestimated me, so if that's how you want it, you might as well have some last words if you want. I can't risk you going back there and blowing my cover."
"You don't look like a killer, so why don't you just leave and I won't say a thing." He looked Kate over from head to toe and shook his head, "I don't see you as a threat, so I wouldn't be lying either."
"Well that's where you're wrong." Kate replied, grabbing the man firmly around the neck, squeezing tightly as he squirmed to get loose, "I'm sorry I have to do this, I don't much like blood, but I have a family to protect and you are loose end I can't afford."
"Wait." He gasped as the reality of death finally hit him, "If you are someone who can stop this man, then I need immunity and a new identity. Can you do that for me?"
Taking much longer to ponder the man's offer than she needed, Kate finally released her grip slightly and stared down at the newly cooperative man, "I know some people who have that kind of power, but I need real information and I need it now. Time is running out, so start talking."
"I don't know who the head boss is, I work for a man who takes orders from someone else." The man muttered, struggling to catch his breath, "His name is William Jallow, he's a mercenary for hire, but an expensive one, with an extensive military background who has many high powered contacts in all the main government agencies."
"That's a start." Kate nodded, finally feeling like she was getting somewhere, "What's your mission here? Why did you bomb this spot on the island?"
"All I know is that we were given these coordinates, ordered to make a crater and then look for a gold plated chest. We weren't given details as to what's in the chest, our job is to find it and bring it back."
"Bring it back where?"
"If all goes well we would rendezvous in a small abandoned air field just outside of Las Vegas in three days."
"One last question." Kate said calmly, keeping her eye on the other men wandering around in the distance, "Have you heard of any of these names before, John Locke, Jack Sheppard or Ben Linus?"
"Yes, we know of all of them." He said, as if it was common knowledge, "They are on the shoot to kill list as our 5 others from that flight.
Kate's eyes lit up, "Really? And who would they be?"
"Sayid Jarrah, Jin Kwon, Shannon Rutherford, Hugo Reyes and you Miss Austen." The man replied, listing the names without hesitation.
Kate took a step back at the mention of her name, "How do know you me?"
"I don't know you, but my boss does, or his boss, but from the information I have on you, I can see why." He said with a smug smile, "You've been a very busy woman haven't you Kate? Fugitive from the law, murderer, arsonist, thief and of course the ever popular, child kidnapper."
"That's a lie. I've never kidnapped anyone, let alone a child."
"I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about the future, when you cheat on Claire and steal her child." The man said with a sinister smile.
Kate stood in silence, unable to respond to such an unbelievable comment.
"I thought that would get your attention." He said with a smirk, "It's a funny world we live in, isn't it? I have to admit it freaked me out when I heard it, but when you see it for yourself, you can't help but believe."
"I don't know what you've been smoking or what you've been told, but I would never do that to Claire. Ever." Kate yelled, becoming increasingly agitated by the man's ridiculous stories, "I'm finished talking to you and if you don't shut up I'm going to forget our agreement and kill you right now."
"Let's not lose our heads now." The man said, backing away from Kate's angry glare, "Don't shoot the messenger. If you don't believe me, you need find my boss's office, open his safe and look at the interesting video footage he has of you, Claire and a few others from this island. It'll give you goose bumps."
"You need to go now." Kate pushed the man south down the beach, "Just leave, get into the water and hope you find an island somewhere."
"I know the future and I'm around to see it, so I'm not too worried about dying." He said with a strange smile as he walked out into the ocean and began to slowly swim away.
After watching him disappear out of sight, Kate tried to shake off what she'd heard, but the idea that she would hurt Claire like that made her weak at the knees and not in a good way.
The Hatch.
Claire continued to try and reach Kate on the cell phone, but kept getting her voice mail. Angered that she was stay out of contact for so long, Claire got up and paced back and forth inside the small room.
The phone rang and a smile instantly appeared on her face. She picked up quickly, "I'm so glad you called back."
"It's not Kate, it's Jack." He said from a small gas station, well off the beaten path to Las Vegas, "I take it that she's not there?"
"No, she's out doing commando crap that Sayid should be doing." Claire said, still bitter than nobody was around to help Kate, "Where the hell is he anyway?"
"I don't know, but I just found out something about Kate that you need to know."
"Look, if it's something bad just save it." Claire said, getting tired of hearing Jack's doomsday predictions about her and Kate's relationship, "You've been on her case ever since things didn't work for you two. Why should I believe anything you say? If you recall, the last two times you've warned me about Kate, they turned out to be lies, misinformation, given to you to do just what you did, cause problems."
Jack cringed at hearing his failures tossed back in his face, "I'm sorry about those and I apologized for that. But this information is from a very reliable source."
Claire laughed, "Is there any such thing anymore? You should know from living on that island and from being around dear old dad, that nothing is what it seems."
"Claire, this is very serious and I would not tell you if I didn't confirm it myself."
"Fine, just say it." Claire growled, "Get it out. Bash Kate some more and then you can leave us alone."
"It's not like that at all." Jack sighed, regretting his previous actions, "I admit I didn't handle things well when I found out you two were, well, together. I'm happy for you now and I honestly want what's best for you, but you need to hear this."
"Get on with it."
Jack nodded to himself, "Okay, this comes from dad, okay, and you know he loves you and he wants what's best and he even likes Kate, but he's also a very cautious and untrusting man and that's why he did a very thorough background check on Kate."
"This is just great." Claire yelled, wishing she'd never her new family, "What are you going to do, tell me she forgot to return a library book? That she skipped class, that she wasn't perfect?"
"If you would just calm down and listen you might find this interesting." Jack said, pausing for Claire to reply, but happily continued when she didn't, "Before Kate ever killed someone, she had a juvenile record a mile long. But that's not what's interesting, what's interesting is the who she was always arrested with."
"Oh god, stop making me guess and just tell me what it is that's so horrible."
"Well, I think it's bit of a coincidence to believe that her partner in crime was none other than Naomi Dorrit."
"What? The woman Locke killed? That's not possible." Claire said, still not fully grasping what she'd just heard, "Kate said she didn't know her."
"I know she did, but they have a record together that started when they were 16 and didn't end until they were 19 and Naomi moved away. From what we've been able to uncover, they kept in touch up until the very night Kate got on that plane."
Claire fell back in her chair, her heart not believing a word Jack said, but a tiny part of her brain couldn't help but wonder, "I have to go now. Say hi to dad."
End of Chapter 1.
Comments and feedback are always welcome and appreciated.