You're Crazy
[Chapter 09 – Part 10 of 12]
Author's Note: Damon and Carlton have been stalling us for far too long. It's time to get some answers. The war is coming, find out what you missed in the very few last episodes of season five. This chapter is not centric on anyone in particular. It's the beginning of the end, as so Ben would call it. Find out what is happening to Ben both in the seventies and in 2007. A little reminder, flashbacks are in italics.
Chapter Summary: Everyone wants answers regarding what is going on in the island, now that Sayid has created chaos, James might get more answers than he barged for.
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Island - 2004
Locke walked into the kitchen of the Hatch, he found Mr. Eko sitting at the table. "Hello again," he greeted.
"Hello. I have something I think you should see." Locke took a seat across the table from him. "If you don't mind, I will begin at the beginning." Mr. Eko said and Locke agreed with nod of his head. "Long before Christ the king of Judah was a man named Josiah."
"Boy when you say beginning, you mean… Beginning." Locke joked briefly.
"At that time the temple where the people worshiped was in ruin. And so the people worshiped idols, false gods. And so the kingdom was in disarray. Josiah, since he was a good king, sent his secretary to the treasury and said: 'We must rebuild the temple. Give all of the gold to the workers so that this will be done.' But when the secretary returned, he had no gold. And when Josiah asked why this was, the secretary replied, 'We found a book.' Do you know this story?
"No, I'm afraid I don't."
"What the secretary had found was an ancient book, the Book of Law. You may know it as the Old Testament. And it was with that ancient book, not with the gold, that Josiah rebuilt the temple." Mr. Eko finished his story. "On the other side of the island we found a place much like this, and in this place we found a book." Mr. Eko unwrapped the book and pushed it toward Locke. "I believe what's inside there will be of great value to you."
Locke opened the book of laws sitting at the table. A square had been cut out, and inside there was a piece of film. Locke took it out looking at the strip. He saw frames with Marvin Candle, the guy from the Swan Station Orientation film.
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Island - 1977
"Is everything okay?" Juliet asked worried as James turned to leave.
"Yeah. I just… I gotta go." He left before she could press the subject any further.
Juliet stared at the empty room, she was feeling sick to her stomach, something really bad was about to come, she knew. She was worried about James, she feared that he had gone to help Jin with the hostiles again, maybe there was a shooting, and she didn't want to think about the consequences.
She got up and went to take a shower, trying to take her mind off this morning's incident, but the feeling that bad news were coming wouldn't leave her for nothing. She did her morning chores, and instead of heading for the motor pool she went to talk to Miles.
"Miles, have you seen James?" She asked him entering the monitor room.
"Nope. He's not answering his walkie, either."
"Jin called him this morning," she took James's coffee mug on the table, sipping at it as she looked over the monitors for any signs of him, "then he just ran off without telling me what was going on." She explained worried.
"Well, let's see what we've got." Miles went over to where she was standing, he pushed some buttons. "Hang on," he pounded on the screen making static turn into an image, "there he is."
Juliet saw James parking in front of their house, she didn't wait before rushing back home. She found him on their bedroom, frenetically going over their closet, putting clothes on a bag.
"Hey," she called his attention.
"You seen my baggy sweatshirt, the one with the bulldog on it?" He asked
"It's in the laundry. James... what's going on?"
"They're back!" He confessed sounding a little worried.
"I'm sorry. Who's back?"
"Jack, Hurley, Kate." He answered as if it was pretty obvious.
"What?" She was confused, she thought they would never come back.
"I know. They came back, Juliet!"
"Are they here now?"
"They're out at the North Point, waiting for me to tell them what to do."
"How did they get..." She whispered sitting on the bed.
"I'm not sure. They said they were on a plane." He dropped the bag and sat on the bed next to her. He sighed. "I don't understand it any more than you do. But they're here, and I gotta find a way to bring them in before somebody else finds them and they screw up everything we got here."
"There's, um, a sub coming in this afternoon." She remembered. "We can put them on the list, say they were last minutes recruits."
"What would I ever do without you?" He asked rhetorically. "Ok, you deal with the manifest list, I'm going to bring them in." She agreed with nod of her head.
Juliet helped James pack some clothes, as she thought about Jack, Kate and Hurley's return, and how it would affect their relationship. James was right, they could destroy everything they got there, the friendships, their life on Dharmaville.
"It's gonna be ok!" He promised her before leaving, cupping her face with his hand and giving her a peck on the lips.
She looked at the watch on her wrist, she was supposed to have been punched in already, but she still needed to get the submarine manifest list. She looked around for Amy, she was sleeping peacefully on a hammock. She walked over to her, and picked the list that was resting on a table nearby.
"Juliet?" Amy woke with Juliet moving around her.
"Hey, Amy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
"Oh, no, it's fine."
"I just came to get the sub manifest." Juliet smiled warmly at her. "Obviously, I don't want you working today."
"Thank you," Amy said with a nasal voice.
"Full load?" Juliet asked, she looked inside the playpen beside the hammock, Ethan was awake chewing on his fist.
"Almost. Two of the recruits dropped out in the eleventh hour. They didn't want to take the sedative for the trip. Can you tell Pierre for me?"
"Hi. Hi. Oh, hello, little one." Juliet said picking him up on her arms. "Oh, hey, buddy." She cooed at him and gave him to his mother.
"Take the list, and get the hell out of here, I don't want you catching my cold." Amy and Juliet shared a smile.
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"Your file," the Asian man from all those Dharma Station Orientation films explained to Jack as he took a seat in front of his desk. "Could they be any more disorganized on the other side? Sorry. Namaste. I'm Pierre Chang. Welcome to the Dharma Initiative. How was your ride in?"
"It was fine," Jack answered nervously.
"Good. Who was your shuttle driver?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Uh... the shuttle from the sub. Who was your driver?"
"Oh, that was, uh..." Jack couldn't tell him it was Sawyer, he searched in his mind for the name tag on Sawyer's jumpsuit. "um... Mr. LaFleur."
"Ah, yes. Good man, LaFleur. Runs a very tight operation." Dr. Chang set down the clipboard sighing. "I'm sorry for the disorganization. The woman who was supposed to be processing you in has the flu, and her baby is coming down with it. I got pulled out of my lab. I... ah, here it is... your job assignment. You've been assigned to the Shed." He handed Jack his jumpsuit.
"Work man," Jack read the name tag, "what does… what does that mean?"
"Based on your aptitude test, you'll be doing janitorial work." Jack chuckled and asked to be excused. He watched from a distance as Kate was having trouble with a guy on Dharma jumpsuit.
"What's your name?" The guy asked her.
"Kate... Austen…" Jack heard her saying.
"Austen..." He flipped through the pages on his hand. "Austen... Huh. You're not on my list, and you're not on the sub manifest either. Who's your recruiter?"
"Um..." Kate didn't know what to say, Jack was thinking of a plan out of the situation when he heard a familiar voice.
"Hold on, Phil." Jack watched Juliet coming into the room with some papers in hand. "I just got the new list from Amy. Some, uh, last-minute additions, including... Miss Austen?"
Jack sighed relieved that Juliet had come to their rescue. He didn't hear anything else, he was just stunned to see her. He had forgotten how beautiful she was; her blue jumpsuit complemented her big blue eyes, and the dark tone of the blue made her blonde locks and fair skin stand out. It was as if she was glowing.
Jack wanted to talk to her, but he wasn't supposed to know her. She looked briefly at him, and he was hurt when she looked away quickly as if she didn't even see him. He watched her and Kate talking, but his mind was elsewhere.
Later that same afternoon, Jack saw Sawyer bringing Sayid in handcuffs. He felt so bad at being out of the loop, Jack needed to talk to Sawyer. But where could he find him?
"Ah, excuse me. Um..." Jack asked Phil. "Could you tell me where James LaFleur lives?"
"Uh, that's his house right there." Phil pointed him towards James's house.
"Thanks!"
"But I wouldn't call him 'James'. He hates it."
Jack chuckled nervously making his way in the direction of his house. Jack never understood why Sawyer hated his real name, but he was glad to know some things never changed. Sawyer was always pissed at Locke and Kate when they called him James.
To Jack's surprise Juliet opened the door, she was smiling. "Hey, Jack!" She took him in for a hug and it felt so right, she was just as tender as she used to be three years ago.
"I saw you earlier today when you were helping Kate, and I wanted to say something to you then, but..."
"We're not supposed to know each other." She finished his sentence for him.
"Yeah," he agreed, "Um..." He begun embarrassed, he felt really uncomfortable being so close to her. He still felt guilty about leaving her behind. "I was looking for Sawyer. I guess I came to the wrong house."
"No," She said opening the door, "come in."
He did as he was told. He was confused as to what she was doing on Sawyer's house, it was after nine in the night, not an usual time for neighbors to be dropping by. But wherever Jack's mind traveled to, he wasn't expecting to find Sawyer, sitting in a chair, with a book in one hand, and a baby girl on the other.
"Evening, Doc!" Sawyer greeted him. "Have you met Rachel?" Jack was out of words.
"Well," he heard Juliet sighing, "I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about. Why don't I take Rachel to the nursery and give you two some privacy?" Jack watched stunned as Sawyer helped her with the baby, he watched as Juliet left cooing at the baby as she went. "It's time for bed sleepy head!"
As Jack looked back at him he noticed that Sawyer was looking at him with a hint of happiness by his surprised face. Jack noticed a sparkle on Sawyer's hands and he finally got the picture. He looked around trying to find anything that would end the uncomfortable silence. That's when he read the title of the book on Sawyer's hand.
"You are reading Carrie to a baby?" Jack asked surprised
"What? It's Juliet's favorite book!" They looked at each other, knowing full well they have shared romantic interest for the same two women. "Besides, Rachel just likes the sound of my voice, the scary plot is for my pleasure!" James put away the book. "So what can I do for you, Jack?"
Jack exhaled deeply, trying to put what he just discovered in the back of his mind. "I don't even know where to start. Uh... how about with Sayid?"
"I had no choice," Sawyer explained, "he was running around in the jungle, got caught by my people. And seeing as how he can't tell the truth about how he got here, I had to improvise."
"Improvise?" Jack repeated
"Uh-huh. And for now, Sayid is safe, which is all that matters."
"So where do we go from here?" Jack asked, anxiously for a plan.
"I'm working on it."
"Really?" Jack asked a little angry at Sawyer's calmness. "Because it looked to me like you were reading a book."
Sawyer chuckled at Jack's accusation, clearly the man hadn't changed one bit. "I heard once Winston Churchill read a book every night, even during the Blitz. He said it made him think better." Sawyer stopped before continuing. "It's how I like to run things. I think. I'm sure that doesn't mean that much to you, 'cause back when you were calling the shots, you pretty much just reacted. See, you didn't think, Jack, and as I recall, a lot of people ended up dead."
"I got us off the Island." Jack insisted, Sawyer felt a need to yell at him, tell him he got himself out of the island, and left everyone else to die. But Sawyer controlled himself.
"But here you are..." Sawyer said instead, "right back where you started. So I'm gonna go back to reading my book," he took Jack to the door, "and I'm gonna think, 'cause that's how I saved your ass today. And that's how I'm gonna save Sayid's tomorrow. All you gotta do is go home, get a good night's rest. Let me do what I do." He opened the door to see him out. "Now ain't that a relief?"
"Yeah," Jack said simply and left for his house.
James watched Jack leaving from his porch, he was really worried. Jack and Kate had barely come back and things were already starting to get complicated. James finally realized what he was feeling earlier when he saw Kate. He was worried! He was worried that wherever Jack and Kate went trouble followed behind. And James wasn't ready to give up his American Dream just yet.
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Island - 2007
Ben walked into Cerberus' chamber, also known as the smoke monster. He was waiting to be judged for having let Keamy kill his daughter Alex. At the time, he thought that she was a sacrifice that the island demanded, but the island clearly had other plans.
The smoke surrounded him, downloading Ben's memory. It wanted to know who he was. Ben waited patiently as it analyzed him. Fear ran through his veins, Ben thought he was taking his last breaths. But then the monster just disappeared, and the memory of his daughter was what it left behind.
"Daddy?" She asked and her voice fulfilled the hollow of his heart.
"Alex," he called her name, he stared at her, he knew she wasn't even a ghost of his daughter, just a copy of his memory of her. But she was standing in front of him, exactly like he remembered her, calling him daddy again.
"Hi, Dad!
"Ohh, Alex," he said softly consumed by emotions, he was close to tears. "I'm so, so sorry. It was all my fault."
"I know." She said furiously, pinning him to the wall. "Listen to me, you bastard!" Her words scratched at his soul, he didn't want to hear her talking like this. He knew this wasn't Alex, but it looked so much like her that it hurt him. "I know that you're already planning to kill John again, and I want you to know that if you so much as touch him, I will hunt you down and destroy you. You will listen to every word John Locke says, and you will follow his every order. Do you understand?" Ben nodded his head, he was afraid of what it was going to do to him. "Say it! Say you'll follow him."
"Yes, I will." He whimpered. "I'll follow him. I swear."
And then it was gone, his memory of Alex was gone, and even though it scared him more than anything, he wished it would come back. He knew it was just a downloaded memory, but it was the closest thing to Alex he would ever touch again.
Ben had promised Cerberus that he would follow John, obey his every order. John seemed to be determined to become the leader, he was eager to talk to Jacob. Ben wasn't surprised, every since he had known Locke the man wanted answers. That's all John Locke was always after, answers. Patience wasn't on Locke's dictionary, and so Richard was now leading them to meet with Jacob.
"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Locke commented to Ben.
"Yes... so far." They kept walking as Ben spoke. "Richard had some concerns."
"Concerns about what?"
"This pilgrimage to Jacob makes him uncomfortable. He's expressed... reservations about whether or not you know what the hell you're doing." Ben was honest with Locke, after all, he was supposed to follow him.
"I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, Ben."
"I know we've had our differences in the past, John, but I'm here to follow you now. So if you need Jacob to help you reunite your people, then I'll do whatever…"
"I'm not interested in being reunited with my people." Locke cut him in mid sentence.
"What do you mean? You told Sun…"
"I know what I told her, but that's not why we're going to Jacob!" Locke informed him.
"Then why are we going to Jacob?" Ben asked curiously.
"So I can kill him!"
Ben stopped stunned as the rest of the people continued to walk past him. He didn't understand, he thought that Locke was on Jacob's side. Locke was on Jacob's list. Richard looked at Ben that moment, giving him a knowingly grin. Richard was right, John was going to be trouble, fortunately not for them. The war had finally begun.
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Island - 1977
"Fresh off the griddle." Hurley said, putting down two plates on the table for Kate and Jack at the cafeteria. "And don't forget to try the dipping sauces. They really bring out the ham."
"Thanks, Hurley." Jack said
"So..." Hurley sighed taking a seat next to Jack. "What's going on with Sayid?"
"Don't know anything yet," Jack answered.
"What do you mean, you don't know anything? I thought you were at Sawyer's last night. What did he tell you?"
"He told me to leave him alone and let him do his job."
"And you're going to?" Hurley asked surprised.
"I'll talk to Juliet," Kate said, "see what she can tell me."
"Well, if Sawyer didn't tell you anything, why would Juliet?" Hurley pointed out.
"Well, why wouldn't she?" Kate asked
"'Cause they're together." Hurley said as if it was obvious.
"What do you mean, they're together?" Kate didn't even try to cover her disappointment, her reaction hurt Jack a little.
"'Together' as... they live together. Like, not as roommates. You know, 'together' like you guys were." Hurley explained, Jack tried to give him signs to stop babbling and making things even worse. But Hurley didn't have a clue. "I thought it was kind of obvious. I mean, who couldn't see that coming? But, dude, could you ever picture Sawyer with a baby?" He laughed as Kate looked at him stunned.
"They have a baby together?!" She asked in a slight high pitched tone.
"Yeah, they are like playing happy family now."
"Hurley," Jack called his attention and Hurley finally understood.
"Well, I guess I better... Go make some more waffles." Hurley headed back into the kitchen embarrassed.
"Did you know?" Kate asked
"Yeah!"
"Hmm," was all Kate said.
After she finished her breakfast she walked to Sawyer's house and knocked on his door. He opened the door, feeling a little uncomfortable about seeing her standing there.
"Hi!" She greeted awkwardly. "Can I come in?" James looked around the house, Juliet had already left for work, and took Rachel to the daycare. James knew that having Kate over when he was alone wouldn't look good, but he agreed anyway. They stood on the hallway. "What's this I hear about you and Juliet having a baby?" She asked straight to the point, her voice was a little altered.
He was confused for a moment. He didn't understand why it upset her so much. It had been three years since Kate and Jack left them behind. She couldn't possibly have waited for him all these years. He looked at her not understanding. Could she have come back expecting to resume their relationship?
"What about Clementine?" Kate asked angrily.
"What about her?"
"I don't understand what you're doing here. How can you give one child of yours unconditional love, while you don't even give a damn about the other?"
"With Clementine it was different!"
"How is it different?" He started to argue, but she cut him off. "You abandoned Clementine! How can you ever live with that?"
"Hey, I didn't abandon anyone. I didn't even know Cassidy was pregnant." He said in his defense.
"That's not an excuse, she told you she gave birth to your daughter and you haven't even visited her once! I can't understand how can you give one child so much and not even think about Clementine."
"You don't have kids, Kate, you have no idea what you are talking about!"
"I loved Aaron like he was my son! Remember that Claire left him in the jungle and just walked away? I took him out of this island, and I raised him as if he was my own. I loved him so much, but I had to leave him behind. Because he was in danger and I needed to save him. It broke my heart more than anyone has ever broken it before." She finished close to tears. "And I still don't understand how you can leave Clementine behind as if it wasn't a big deal!"
"Tell me something, Kate, if Claire hadn't gone missing, and you hadn't raised Aaron as your own. Wouldn't it be a hell of a lot easier to give up Aaron?"
"It's different!"
"Oh, so now it's different?!" He asked at the irony, his voice had become altered with the course of their conversation. "No, it's not, it's the same damn thing. Hell, Cassidy never told me she was pregnant, she showed up one day shoving a picture of a baby on my face, accusing me of walking out on the two of them. I don't know what stuff Cassidy put on your head, but she wasn't that high and mighty either. She wanted to use her money for a long con, she was stupid enough to get involved with someone like me. The whole time we were going out, she knew full well what kind of person I was. I didn't abandon her when she was pregnant. I stole her money, because that was what I used to do! Once she told me I had a daughter out there I sent her a lot of money."
"Oh, that's so sweet of you." She said sarcastically. "As if money is the same thing as a father figure!" Kate was almost shouting.
"Interesting that you come talking to me about a father figure! Tell me, Kate. How good a figure was your father for you?"
"How dare you?" Her tears were threatening to spill out.
"No, how dare you?" He shouted. "You come into my house, pointing a finger at me. Let me just tell you something, Kate. I don't know Clementine, I never met her. Do I feel guilty I don't even know when she was born? Sure as hell I do! But that is different because I didn't want her." Kate started to talk, but he kept on. "I didn't look at Cassidy with a long to make a baby with her, I didn't watch as her belly grew bigger. I didn't hold Clementine on my arms for the first as she gripped my big finger with her tiny had. That's how it's different!"
"I feel so sorry for Juliet!" Kate told him crossing her arms. "You are just going to walk out on them, like you did to Cassidy, like you did to me!"
"I walked out on you?!" He shouted again, surprised at her accusation. "You have a pretty good way of showing your appreciation for someone who helped you get off this island. If I hadn't jumped out of the chopper, anyone would never have left!"
"You know what I think, Sawyer? I think you jumped because you were afraid of what would happen between us if you didn't!"
"Oh, yes, somehow you're right." He said sarcastically, "I was afraid of falling in love with a woman that kept jumping from me to Jack. You gotta be thankful, Kate, I lowered you options." She felt the need to slap him on the face like she did the first time he insinuated that same thing. "You wanna know why it didn't work out between us? You wanna know why I'm so happy with Juliet the way I've never been with you? It's because you always want to be the victim. But I got news for ya, I like strong women!"
Kate stared at him breathing heavily. She was wondering whether or not she should keep on fighting with him. She wondered if it was worth it. But his words hurt her deeply. He had no idea what he was talking about. She never wanted to be a victim, things just happened to her, and he out of all people should know how hard life had been for her. She didn't respond to him, she didn't want to argue.
She let herself out, he didn't stop her, didn't call her, didn't follow her. He just let her go. At first she was mad at him. James was mad at Kate as well. She had no right to just come back into his life, barking accusations. He was a different man than the one she had known. And maybe that was the reason she was acting like this.
He started to feel guilt rising up, he shouldn't have yelled at her like that. He shouldn't have lost his temper. He rarely fought with Juliet, but not because they were a dull couple. It was because Juliet had something about her that always melted his heart and he couldn't stay mad at her for longer than an hour. And also because she made him promise her that they would never go to bed with unfinished business.
Maybe that was the reason for James's guilty, he just had forgotten how to stay mad at people, he wanted to go out, tell Kate that he was sorry he shouted at her. Tell her that she was right, that he was never a good father for Clementine. He wanted to make her understand that he is a different person now, and that if he had a second chance, he would have made things different with Cassidy.
He wanted to tell Kate that she didn't know James, she knew Sawyer.
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A burning Dharma van was speeding through the streets of the Barracks when it finally hit a house setting it on fire. Only a distraction to cover a prison break, Sayid had help of twelve year old Ben. Who was sick of living on this place and being abused by his alcoholic father. Sayid had taken advantage of the boy's eagerness to run away from home, so that Ben was the one who helped him escape.
Moments later as they rushed through the jungle and were stopped by Jin, Sayid would not let anyone come on his way. Not even an old friend. He had not come back to this island on free will, but he now believed to have been sent back for a purpose. Sayid knocked Jin unconscious and kneeled on the floor next to him while the teenager looked at them amazed.
"Whoa! Where'd you learn to do that?" Ben asked dazzled as Sayid picked up Jin's gun. "Come on." Ben said hurrying him. "We better go. He called LaFleur." Ben didn't want to wait for him to show up. The man always gave him the chills.
"You were right about me," Sayid said still kneeled on the floor.
"What?" The boy asked confused.
"I am a killer!" Sayid looked up and shot the young man the chest.
Sayid believed he had been sent back to the island, sent back in time, because he had a purpose. He was sent back in time to kill Ben before he became the man who was going to be responsible for all sorts of atrocities. Sayid lowered the gun and whipped a tear of relieve from his face and ran into the jungle leaving the boy to die.
Jin came to minutes after and drove young Ben back to the Barracks. Since the doctor was going to be at the looking glass station until Friday, James went to get his wife, to try and save Ben's life. She had told him that the situation didn't look good. They needed to think of a plan because things were already starting to crumble to their feet. And as Juliet fought for the boy's life James knocked on Horace's door.
They sat on Horace's living room as James told him everything. About flight 815, about the crash, about the future and the hostile purge. James told him the island started to move back and forth in time and that it finally stopped flashing and they ended up on the seventies. James told him that his people had finally come back to him, but things weren't exactly going according to plan.
"Horace, we are friends." James told Horace who was looking at him shell shocked. "You have to help me get my wife and baby out of this island!" James pleaded.
"Ok, calm down, Jim, I have something that I need to tell you." Horace told him.
"What's that?"
"Alvar Hanso, one of the Dharma Initiative co-founder, was a scientist. While he was growing up his father used to tell him bed time stories about an island and a shipwreck."
"The black rock," James completed him and Horace nodded his head.
"Hanso spent his life searching and studying this mystical place from his childhood memory. And one day, when he was sailing, he really thought he was going to die when a storm hit. But when the storm finally stopped his boat was sailing around an island. He was happy to had finally found the place, and now he had a second purpose. He wanted to know how to leave the island. He said it was like he was inside a snow globe."
"He found a way out, right? That's how he founded Dharma Initiative?"
"Yes, one day he discovered you can only leave the island with a certain bearing, and finally sailed back to the land of the living. Finding the island again was a little difficult, because the island is always moving, but after years of research Hanso and his team came up with an equation that would determine where the island would be in the future." James looked over at Horace excited that after three years of living on this island he had finally found someone who had an idea of where they were. "Jim, do you want to know what was Hanso's definition of the island?"
"What was it?" James asked intrigued.
"He said that it was a place between heaven and hell of which God doesn't know about!"
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Really long time ago
It was dark, the night sky shined beautiful with starlight on that moonless night. Josiah sat by the fire watching the bright red and orange flames dancing to the sounds of the jungle; crickets and frogs, and other singing night creatures. Jacob came over to him, sitting by his side, staring into the fire instead of his face.
"Our people have been worshiping these fake gods," Josiah said.
"Yes, they have. They begun questioning your power as a leader, Josiah," Jacob informed him, "they don't want to follow your orders anymore, they believe that there are powerful gods on this place, they are saying that there is a bright light that will save them all."
"This is inacceptable!" Josiah said sternly. "God put us on this island in order to protect it, if our people are straying we must put them in the right direction."
"What do you suggest we do?" Jacob asked.
"We must rebuild the temple!" Jacob agreed with a nod of his head. "Take everyone with you and we shall end this fake gods worshiping."
Jacob gathered as many people as he could and led them to the ruins of the temple. Once he arrived there, instead of the instruments to rebuild the temple he found a hole on the floor. The people looked around each other with curiosity. Jacob was the one who explored inside. As he walked aimlessly through the dark tunnels it led him to the chamber of one of the supposed gods that his people had been worshiping.
It was a pillar of black smoke, but Jacob didn't fear it. His lord should protect him from anything. The smoke surrounded him, and what Jacob found in the discharges of light was every man's dream. Jacob found knowledge, enough to make someone crazy with delusions of grandeur. The smoke gave Jacob power, enough for him to defy anyone who might come on his way.
Jacob smiled at the smoke whose name he now knew was Cerberus, it roared powerfully, pushing itself loudly trough the tunnels like a snake. Jacob could hear the screams of the people on the ruins of the temple. Yes, they would rebuild the temple, but Josiah wasn't going to be the one to give out orders anymore.
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Island - 1977
"So what? Is this place death?" James asked, remembering Charlotte's definition of the island before she died.
"No, it's a place…"
"Between heaven and hell." James cut him in mid sentence. "Yeah, yeah, I know… But it doesn't make any sense!"
"It's like a state of mind, only it's not. God has no power inside the island as he can't see it. This place was where people were brought to be judged." James looked at him confused. "This is not death, but this is not life either. It's a whole new place, like a state of mind."
"So this guy Hanso, you say he founded Dharma."
"Yes, when he first came to the island, he discovered all the magical things that happened around here. He met the hostiles, the security system, and some other people too. Hanso was a visionary. He wanted to bring people to the island, to study the all miraculous consequences of the electromagnetism. He had a vision, of creating utopian civilization where people could discover great things, perhaps even time travel!" Horace looked deep into his eyes for effort. "But this is not what I had to tell you, Jim. Tell me, have you ever heard about Jacob?"
"Yes," James was reminded of Locke.
"Well, tells the tale that a long time ago there was a man named Josiah, he was the leader of the island natural inhabitants. Their primary purpose was to protect the island, from people like us, who weren't supposed to be here. Josiah started to lose power over his people once they started to worship fake gods. The people believed there to be two gods that protected the island, one was dark, one was light. The dark god protected the temple, a place people would go to get well. The light god protected the statue of Taweret, goddess of birth and rebirth, the statue protected pregnant women and guided the troubled souls. Josiah wouldn't tolerate that his people were losing faith in God so he sent Jacob, his secretary, to rebuild the temple ruins." Horace stopped his story.
"Well, did Jacob rebuild the temple?"
"He did, but something happened to him. When they arrived at the ruins, a miracle happened to Jacob, he gained knowledge and power. The forbidden fruit! Jacob was sick of following Josiah's orders, and he turned his people against him. And since that day Jacob has been playing god in this island. Josiah continued to age as Jacob continued to rule, he wasn't powerful enough to stop Jacob, and when his time came Josiah died."
Horace got up on his feet and started to pace around the living room, thinking about what to tell James next. "But there were some people that stood loyally by Josiah's side, his followers wanted change. And, Jim, I'm one of these people." James looked up at Horace. "So if you think that you being sent to seventies is just a fluke. Think again!"
----------------------
Horace told James that he needed time to think of plan to help him and his people get out of the island safely. In the mean time he told James to keep his friends out of trouble. In the morning James told Miles to make sure that Kate, Jack and Hurley stayed inside Jack's house, and that what he was doing as he loaded his rifle.
"You're telling us we're under house arrest?" Jack asked him offended.
"No, you're all free to leave whenever you want," Miles told him, "but I'll shoot you in the leg."
Jack sighed, "and whose idea was this?"
"Who do you think?" Miles asked with the slightest smirk.
"Sawyer's just doing his job, Jack." Kate told him noticing the furious look on Jack's face.
Miles looked at Jack and pointed at Kate to emphasize her point, he walked over to the table and watched curiously as Hurley inspected his hand. "What the hell are you doing, Tubby?"
"Checking to see if I'm disappearing."
"What?" Miles asked
"'Back to the Future,' man. We came back in time to the island and changed stuff. So if little Ben dies, he'll never grow up to be big Ben, who's the one who made us come back here in the first place. Which means we can't be here. And therefore, dude? We don't exist."
"You're an idiot," Miles said sitting on the table next to him.
"Am I?"
"Yeah. It doesn't work like that. You can't change anything. You're maniac Iraqi buddy shot Linus. That is what always happened. It's just...we never experienced how it all turns out."
"This is really confusing," Hurley looked up at Jack for explanation.
"Yeah, well, get used to it." Miles said in a welcome-to-my-life tone. "But the good news is that Linus didn't die, so that means the kid can't either. He'll be fine."
"Didn't look like he was gonna be fine," Kate pointed out worried, "what if you're wrong?"
"Well, if I'm wrong, then I guess we all stop existing, and none of it matters anyway then, does it?" Miles was interrupted by James that opened the door and rushed in.
"Doc, I need you to come with me," James said.
"Come with you where?"
"Juliet said the kid's losing blood, and we ain't gone none to put back in him. So we need you to show us where he sprung a leak."
Jack pondered at what James was asking of him, then he shook his head surprising everyone and said a stubborn, "No!"
"What?" James asked shocked.
"No, I'm not coming with you."
"If you don't come with me, Jack, that kid's gonna die!"
Jack looked at Kate and said, "then he dies."
James couldn't believe what he was hearing, Jack was a doctor, and he was refusing to help an innocent kid just because of who he was going to become. James left the house and Kate watched him through the window as he talked to Ben's father on the Infirmary porch. She walked into the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" She asked Jack.
"Making some sandwiches, I figured everybody'd be getting hungry by now."
"He's just a boy, Jack. You can't just let him die!" Kate pleaded.
"You heard Miles. We can't change what's already happened. This has nothing to do with me."
"Unless you're the one who's supposed to save him."
"Thirty years from now, that boy's gonna be a man... that locks me in a cage because he needs surgery. And then you're gonna come in and you're gonna beg me to operate on him because he's threatening to murder Sawyer. I've already done this once. I've already saved Benjamin Linus, and I did it for you, Kate. I don't need to do it again."
"This is our fault. We brought Sayid back. We caused this," she said feeling guilty.
"You know, when we were here before, I spent all of my time trying to fix things. But... did you ever think that maybe the island just wants to fix things itself? And maybe I was just... getting in the way?"
"You know, I don't like the new you." She said shaking her head in disbelief. "I liked the old you, who wouldn't just sit around and wait for things to happen."
"You didn't like the old me, Kate." Jack said with a sarcastic tone.
"Then I guess I never liked you at all!" She said turning and walking out of the house.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Miles asked, but she ignored him and slammed the door shut.
She marched to the infirmary, informed one of the nurses she wanted to help little Ben, and that she was a universal donor. Juliet was glad to see her. They were left alone, as Juliet cleaned Kate's arm, preparing to draw blood.
"This might hurt for a second," Juliet said sweetly sticking a needle into Kate's skin, she looked away. "Good, very brave!" Kate smiled at her, the way Juliet was talking to her made her feel like a little kid. "So James told me that Jack wouldn't help, but he didn't say why." Juliet said securing the needle with tape.
"If I understood why Jack does what he does, I sure as hell wouldn't be sitting here."
Juliet smiled at her understanding, she removed her glove looked into Kate's eyes and asked. "Mind if I ask you a question?" Kate shook her head. "Why did you come back, Kate?"
Kate took a long breathe, she didn't want to talk about it, especially not with Juliet, but somehow, she needed to get it off her system. "Do you remember when we were in the jungle and I dislocated your shoulder?"
"How could I forget when it hurt so much!" She smiled at Kate trying to joke.
"Do you remember when it attacked us?"
"What? The smoke monster?"
"No, the bright light thing," Juliet nodded, "I heard whispers that night, at the time I didn't know what it meant, I thought I heard 'If you leave him and come back, everything is going to be ok.'" Kate looked away terrified at the memory, then looked back at Juliet. "Did Sawyer tell you about Aaron?" Juliet nodded again, "I lost him in the supermarket, and that day I finally understood what the whispers meant. So that's why I'm here." Juliet didn't understands her, "I had to leave Aaron and come back, it's the only way to make things ok." Kate explained. "What did you hear? What did the bright light tell you?"
"It told me," she said in a low whisper, "that if I let go and died, everything was going to be ok." Kate looked at her not sure what to say, "when you got back to the island, was everything ok?"
"Not yet…"
"Then when it comes my time, when I understand what the whispers mean. And I die without a fight, how do I know that everything is going to be ok?" Kate was still at loss of words.
----------------------
"Where are you taking me?" James asked following Horace through the jungle.
He had just got out of the infirmary and told Juliet not to count with Jack's help when Horace asked James to walk with him. They never walked outside the barracks, unless it was a Circle of Trust business they needed to deal with. Now however this seemed to be anything but a Dharma related business. James was about to repeat the question when Horace stopped in front of a cabin.
"Son of a bitch, this place does exist!" James commented shocked.
"Yeah, I built this cabin two years ago. A little place for me and Amy, you know. When we need a break from the DI. Now, we have been using it for something else." Horace said and walked up the steps of the house and opened the door to him.
Once inside the cabin James found a man sitting on a chair, and a little boy around ten years, sitting on the floor playing with a car toy. The man looked over at James and smiled, James recognized him as the man he once met in a bar at Sidney, only younger and not much older than James himself.
"Hello, James!" Christian said and pointed to chair next to his. "Why don't you take a seat?"
"Dad, can I go play in the woods?" The boy asked sounding a little bored.
"Of course you can, Jack." Christian said and the boy smiled.
"Come on, Max, let's go!" Jack called clapping his hands and whistling, a yellow Labrador that was lying in the corner of the shack barked. The dog got up and followed the boy outside. James watched in shock.
"I don't understand, how come he doesn't remember this place?" James asked Christian.
"For him this is a vacation on a tropical island," Christian explained, "he doesn't remember that he was born here either." James was beyond astonishment.
"James, I explained your situation to Christian." Horace said, he was still standing near the door. "And he thinks that he knows how to help everyone."
"Are you a Josiah's follower too?" James asked Christian.
"Yes," Christian answered, he scratched his face and sighed. "There are a lot of us, but we mingle with the hostiles and the Dharma Initiate. Nobody really knows we exist, although there are suspicions."
"So you are an Other then?" James deduced since he never saw him walking around the barracks, and James knew all the faces of every men and women.
"No, I'm a spinal surgeon," Christian told him, "I was banned from the island when I had a daughter with an outsider. Her name is Claire," James frowned at the familiar name, "long story! Anyway, when Jack was two years old, my wife decided she didn't want to continue living here, she thought that it was too dangerous for her and the baby if they ever found out that I was a Josiah's follower. That's why Jack has no recollection of the island whatsoever. I started to keep traveling back and forth from the island, until the day they found out about Claire and had me banned."
"Ok, you say you can help me get off the island."
"Yes, I know what you have to do to stop Jacob and therefore save all of your friends, and the rest of humanity."
"Tell me then?"
"You're gonna have to die." Christian said matter-of-factly and James chuckled. "The world is in danger, James. You need to help us!"
"You're crazy!" James said beginning to lose his temper. "You all are!" He got up, "you're a bunch of crazy lunatics! I'm not gonna die for you. I'm not gonna leave my wife and daughter, the two most precious people on my life because of a war that has begun millions of years ago. This is not my fight!"
"I'm sorry you feel this way, James." Christian said disappointed.
"Jim, you need to think about this," Horace pleaded, "this is supposed to happen, you need to do this!"
"Do you realize what Gandalf over there is asking me to do?" James asked almost shouting pointing at Christian, Horace nodded his head and James sighed. "What I need to do is take my wife and daughter out of this rock." James said calmer. "Can you help me with that Horace?" James looked seriously into Horace's eyes.
"Yes, of course, Jim!"
"Then once you figure out what to do with me give me a nudge." James turned to leave. "I should have listened to her," he mumbled as he left, "should have gotten out of this island three years ago!"
Horace stared at James's retrieving back in silence. "Maybe we got the wrong LaFleur!"
"I sure hope so!" Christian glared up at Horace, he had fear in his eyes.
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Juliet breathed easy now that little Ben was stable. She really thought that she was going to lose him when he went into hypoxic shock. Thankfully Kate's blood had helped him, not for long Juliet knew, there was still a leak, and she had no idea how to fix it. She needed Jack or Ben was going to die. She reached over Ben, stroking his face, he fluttered his eyes open.
"Mrs. LaFleur!" He smiled weakly, but it was replaced by fear, he looked lost and scared as he started to hallucinate, inside his head he could hear a man's voice. 'You're my prisoner and you are mine!' The voice kept echoing in his mind.
"Look at me." Juliet told him, cradling his face on her hands. "It's all right, it's okay, I'm here. Look at me."
"I'm scared, mum!" Juliet was taken aback by his choice of word to address her, she was longing to her that word coming from the lips of another child she had the pleasure to call her own. Never had she expected to hear it on the lips of the boy who would one day become the man she hated the most.
"It's all right, don't worry" Juliet said after swallowing a knot on her throat, "patience Ben! It will be ok, soon!" He smiled again, the man's voice was gone.
"Will you stay with me?"
"Yes, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere."
"Mrs. LaFleur, what did one snowman said to the other snow man?" Ben asked looking at her, he would always come visit her and tell her a new joke he'd just heard, so it didn't surprise her he would tell her one when he was delirious.
"Smells like carrot!" She said not sure how she knew the answer, she just wanted to make sure the boy forgot he was in pain. Ben smiled at the joke and then sleep took over him.
She needed to save Ben, she knew that in thirty years from now he would become a psychopath, but now he was just a scared little boy. She couldn't let him die, she knew the hostiles would know how to help him, and she knew Richard would never let Ben die. She rushed out of the infirmary to ask for Kate's help.
Juliet sent Ben's father out to the medical station to get some supplies they didn't have at the infirmary. Just to get him out of the way. Then she told Kate her plan of taking Ben to the others, Kate was willing to help, but she didn't want Juliet to come along. Juliet felt a hint of bitterness on Kate's voice when she told her that James would kill her if he found out that Kate involved Juliet on this. And Kate was probably right.
Then Juliet asked James to help Kate take Ben to the others, Kate would never manage it on her own, she would probably get herself killed or worse. James was mad at first, but he agreed to help her because Juliet told him that no matter what, it was wrong to let a kid die.
Yes it was wrong to let a child die, to let anyone die, especially for a doctor who had taken an oath to help people regardless. That was why she had walked into the Jack's bathroom, Jack had barely heard her coming in as he was washing his hair. Juliet was in the verge of tears as she watched the man go about his day as if nothing was happening.
Jack turned off the water, and walked out of the shower. His first reaction was embarrassment when he stood stark naked in front of Juliet. But her eyes were focused on his eyes only, and he reached automatically for a towel, wrapping it around his waist.
"I needed you!" Juliet said with disappointment apparent on her voice.
"I'm sorry?" He asked, pretending not to understand her as he put on a shirt to cover his still wet chest.
"That kid was bleeding out. You're a surgeon, and I needed you!"
"That kid is Ben." Jack said coldly, Juliet of all people should understand him.
"That's not Ben yet. He's just a kid."
"Juliet, I'm sorry. I can't help you." He insisted thinking that she was here to convince to go help Ben out.
"I'm not asking for your help, Jack. You made it pretty clear you weren't interested. It's up to Sawyer and Kate now." She informed him, still sounding disappointed.
"What?"
"She's trying to save him, and I sent James after her to help, because they actually care!" Her voice cracked a little.
"I came back here because I care, Juliet. I came back here because I was trying to save you."
"We didn't need saving." She told him, it was bad enough that Jack had left them behind even after he had 'promised' to save everyone. And now he had the audacity to come back, screw over the life they had built there and still call himself a hero. "We've been fine for three years. You came back here for you. At least do me the courtesy of telling me why."
"I came back... because I was supposed to."
"Supposed to do what?"
"I don't know yet!" He said firmly.
"Well, you'd better figure it out!" She held back tears and left, she refused to cry in front of him.
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James carried Ben in his arms through the jungle, Kate was right behind him, following him in silence. They were coming up to a creek, when she noticed that James was starting to get tired.
"You know, I can take him for a while," she offered.
"Sure you can!"
"You know, his father said that you think Ben broke Sayid out."
"Kid'll do almost anything if he's pissed off enough at his folks." James said laying Ben down on the ground near the creek.
"Is that why you asked me to take care of your daughter?" Kate asked kneeling on the floor next to them. James looked at her, he seemed hurt. "Look I'm sorry about yesterday, I shouldn't have yelled at you."
"I'm sorry too, I understand that you would think I abandoned Clementine, and at some level I did, but I'm not the same person I was three years ago."
"I know," Kate said giving Ben water from the canteen she brought with her.
"What's she like?" James asked
"Clementine?"
"Yeah, Clementine."
"Oh, she's beautiful." Kate smiled at the memory of the five year old little girl that called her auntie Kate. "Looks just like you when she smiles. She's growing up fast. Already has a little attitude."
"I bet you and Cassidy had a lot to talk about."
"Yeah, I admit that she has always tried to change my mind about you. You know, she is the one that thinks you were worried about what would happen if you hadn't jumped off the chopper."
"You and me would've never worked out, Kate." He said tenderly, he didn't want to fight anymore. "I wasn't any more fit to be your boyfriend than I was to be that little girl's father."
"You seem to be doing all right with Juliet," Kate said, she wanted to know more about their relationship, deep inside, she was jealous. Jealous because they are happy together, have been for three years while her relationship with Jack didn't last longer than six months.
"Yeah. I've done a lot of growing up the past three years."
"Hands up!" They heard a man shouting from the jungle, several rifles cocked as the Others came out of the jungle. Kate put her hands up.
"Do not move." The man ordered. "I said don't move. This is a violation of the truce. You're over the line."
"We know." James said irritated. "This kid's been shot. That's both of our problems. So unless you want to go to war, you're gonna take us to Richard Alpert, and you're gonna do it now."
The Hostiles didn't like the arrangements, but they agreed to let Richard decide what to do. So they walked along with them, as James carried Ben and Kate walked by his side scared of the situation. Richard appeared as if from nowhere.
"Hello there, James." Richard greeted him.
"Where the hell did you come from?"
"You asked my people to bring you to me. Here I am." Richard finally notices the boy on James's arms. "Is that Benjamin Linus?"
"You two know each other?"
"What happened to him?" Richard asked worried.
"He was shot," Kate explained.
"And who might you be?"
"She's with me." James answered
"And why are you here?" Richard asked
"'Cause we need you to save his life. Can you?" Kate asked straight to the point.
"If I take him, he's not ever gonna be the same again." Richard warned.
"What do you mean by that?" Kate asked suspiciously.
"What I mean is that, he'll forget this ever happened, and that... his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us. You still want me to take him?"
"Yes!" Kate answered. She just wanted the little boy to live. Richard took Ben from James.
"Richard..." A Hostile called his attention stepping forward. "You shouldn't do this without asking Ellie. And if Charles finds out…"
"Let him find out. I don't answer to either of them!" Richard said walking away from them.
He carried little Ben into the jungle for a little less than half an hour until he came up to a stone structure. The temple! He looked down at Ben before pushing back into the wall, making it open. He carried Ben inside. After the temple healed the boy Richard took him to their camp, he knew it was only a matter of time before Widmore found out. But he didn't really care.
"What happened?" Ben asked waking up as Richard lowered him on the bed.
"You were saved," Richard told him.
"Are you going to let me live here now?" Ben asked hopefully, but Richard simply shook his head.
"Ben," Richard begun, "this is not the side that you wanna be. I need your help, to take down a very powerful and evil man called Jacob, will you help me?"
"Yes," Ben was weak, but his eyes gleamed excited.
"You are a good boy, Ben. But you will need to do horrible things if we want to win." Ben nodded his head. "And you're going to have to be patient!"
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Note #1: It's obvious that Max is actually Vincent, I got this idea when I saw mobisode "So It Begins", when Christian asked Vincent to go wake up his son, which is the very first scene of the pilot of Lost. So maybe Vincent was Jack's dog when he was a kid, who would have guessed huh? We all know that Vincent is not your run-of-the-mill yellow lab.
Note #2: On this chapter when Ben was delirious, after Sayid shot him, he heard a man's voice in his head, I got the dialogue from episode 3.20 "The man behind the curtain". It's a transcript of the whispers Ben heard in the jungle, right before he saw his mother by the sonar fences. What I wanted to accomplish with this is that the whispers he heard were the conversation between him and Juliet, as if it was an echo of the future. It also explains Ben's assumption that Juliet is his. As if the Man's voice was the echo of his future obsession with Juliet. Man, it sounds like it's me who is delirious now!!!
Full transcript of the whispers from "The Man Behind the Curtain"
Man: "Look at me"
Ben's mother: "Look at me. It's all right, it's okay, (-It's okay, **echo) I'm here. Look at me."
Man: "Ben, You're my prisoner and- (inaudible, but most likely: "and we are ready" or "and you are mine". Perhaps both in overlay.)
Man: demonic laugh.
Ben: "I'm scared mom."
Mom: "It's all right, (-don't worry **Over lay**) patience Ben."