A/N: Part two! This chapter is a little look back at the island, where things have got much harder for the few survivors.
A word about timelines: This chapter coincides roughly with Kate's flashforwards in "Eggtown", which I'm estimating at eighteen months after the "rescue" of the Oceanic Six.
As usual, I don't own this :(
Claire woke with a start, thinking that they had been found, and relaxed when she saw that it was only Sawyer and Jin, coming in after their watch finished. She lay back down, and tried to get to sleep. She was so tired, she fell asleep quickly.
She dreamt of Aaron, just as she had every night since the chosen few had been 'rescued' from the island. The dreams weren't always the same, though. There were two main ones – in one, she and Aaron were together, and they had both been rescued, and Charlie was still alive, and everything was perfect. Those were the bad dreams, because she knew it would never be like that. The other dream was better – she dreamt that Aaron was safe and happy with Kate, that Kate told him about her and Charlie every night when she tucked him in. That dream wasn't exactly good, but it didn't make her wake up in tears, either, and really that was the best she could hope for. Barely a hour went by when she didn't wonder if giving Aaron to Kate hadn't been such a good idea, if maybe she should have kept him with her.
When she thought like that, she would look around herself – at the small band of survivors, ekeing out an existence on the island, all of them tired of running and hiding – and she knew that giving Aaron away had been the right thing to do. Because whatever happened to her, at least she knew her baby was safe.
Three hours later, she woke up to Alex shaking her gently.
"Claire? Come on, it's our watch."
Claire sighed, but got up – there was no need to change, they all slept in their clothes now anyway – and followed the younger girl out. They had arrived at their current camp, which the Dharma Initiative had once called the Arrow, two weeks ago. They were always careful to have two people on watch at all times – each watch lasted three hours. The pairs were the same – Sawyer and Jin, Claire and Alex, Desmond and Daniel, Bernard and Juliet – but the times changed. Rose was the only person who was always excused, partly because she was the oldest and partly because she wasn't as young or as healthy as she had once been.
This week, Claire and Alex had the midnight to three watch, and at three they'd be waking up Juliet and Bernard. They didn't have much by way of weapons – there were just three guns left, two handguns and a rifle, and a dwindling supply of ammunition. Apart from Sawyer, who always carried one of the handguns, everyone else armed themselves with spears or knives.
They had a lot of knives, since Locke died. That day, the day that Jack, Kate and the others had been permitted to leave, had changed everything. The people who had come on the freighter had taken the chosen six with them, then opened fire on the rest. Most of the remaining survivors died then. A small group, only five people, had managed to run into the jungle and escape. Locke and Sawyer had gone to watch what happened, and Locke was killed by a stray bullet.
Sawyer – injured in the fighting - had rallied the few who survived the attack. The only people left from Locke's original group were him, Claire and Alex, and they were joined by the five from Jack's group who had escaped the fighting – Juliet, Jin, Rose, Bernard and Desmond. Sawyer found them a safe place – with Bernard's help he had taken them back to the Arrow to hide. After a few days, when they thought the freighter people had left, they emerged and headed for the Barracks. On the way they discovered the scientist who had been part of the team sent to capture Ben – Daniel Faraday. He was injured and quickly explained that he'd been left behind when the freighter left. He also had some bad news for them – a small, well-equipped group of armed men had been left to set up a base on the beach, with instructions to kill anyone left on the island. After a short discussion, the survivors decided to let Daniel stay with them. After all, it didn't matter now where they had come from. They were all in danger.
They also found Vincent in the jungle, and he seemed as happy and healthy as he had ever been. The dog followed them back to the Barracks, and in the end he attached himself to Claire. She was glad of that.
That night, while she and Alex were standing watch, Claire thought about how long it had been, since That Day, counting the days and weeks.
"Alex?"
"Yeah?"
"We've
been doing this for eighteen months."
"Is it that long? I didn't know."
"Eighteen months since they left. Eighteen months of running and hiding. Eighteen months since I saw my baby."
"…eighteen months since Karl died." Alex added quietly.
"Oh. Sorry, Alex. I didn't mean to remind you."
"It's OK. I want to be reminded. Otherwise I might forget him. I don't ever want to do that." She smiled sadly. "How old would your baby be now?"
"Almost two. I missed his first birthday."
"He's OK, though. He's not here. He's going to grow up safe."
"I know. I just miss him so much."
They talked some more, until Alex looked at her watch and saw that their shift was over. They went back inside and woke Bernard and Juliet before finding their own blankets and lying down to sleep.
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