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-Chapter 10-
Father Figure
"One of them is Claire."
A look of shock covers everyone's faces, especially Sawyer's. He was the last to see her on the Island before she disappeared into the jungle. "Claire?" The rush of emotions makes him forget all about being angry with Jack. "You gotta be kiddin' me. You sure it's her?"
Hurley nods. "Pretty sure dude."
Hurley and Jin lead the group down the long stretch of hallway, over and around dead bodies strewn about the floor.
"Dudes. Just to, like, warn you guys, she looks way different," Hurley explains, as he steps over one of the dead bodies. "She's got like this new hair-do thing and she looks kinda rough."
"What do you mean, kind of rough?" Sawyer grunts, his eyes squinting in skepticism that she's actually here.
"You know; rough." Hurley struggles to find the right adjectives. "Like Rambo. But like, a girl."
Jack understands. He knew that if Claire was ever found alive, she would have become a rugged individual who learned to live off the land.
"You mean like Rousseau?" Jack clarifies.
Hurley nods in agreement. "Ya man. Rough; like the French Chic." Hurley peaks inside several rooms until he finds the right one.
"We're here dudes. That's her," Hurley says, pointing to a woman lying unconscious in a bed.
Jack immediately rushes to her side. Hurley's right; at first glance he barely recognizes her. Her hair is matted. Her complexion is no longer soft; her face is tanned and covered in dirt. Her biceps and forearms are toned. She's the new Claire; the hardened, survivor Claire.
"Whoa. No longer the little Misses all of us been used to," Sawyer quips, already busy thinking of new nicknames.
Kate leans over and squeezes her calloused hand. "Claire," she whispers, hoping to wake her. "How did you get here?" she asks, again with no response.
"She's here, because we left her here," Jack responds. The burden of leaving her behind still weighs heavy on his heart.
Jin looks to Sawyer, shrugging his shoulders. "I searched Island. Searched all sectors. Nobody found," he says, his English still imperfect.
Sawyer steps forward to get a closer look; she hardly resembles the Claire he last saw sleeping next to the campfire. He remembers everything about that night. They made camp for the night in the jungle, after leaving the Dharma barracks to get to the beach rescue. When he and Miles awoke in the morning, she was nowhere to be found.
"We may have left her behind," he moans. "But we sure as hell didn't leave her here, in 1977."
It's 2004.
It's night time, on the Island.
A campfire crackles in a small clearing in the jungle. Sawyer, Miles, and Claire are fast asleep and nestled around the campfire.
Claire's blanket is spread wide enough over the ground for her and her baby to sleep on top of. She shifts to get comfortable, and awakens after realizing the warmth of her infant is no longer next to her side. She panics and frantically feels around the blanket. She looks across the campfire and sees a man only twenty feet away, cuddling baby Aaron. She's horrified at first, but quickly recognizes the face of a man she's only seen once in her adult life.
"Dad?"
The mysterious man places a finger to his lips. "Shh. Let's not wake your friends."
He stands, still holding the baby close to his chest. "Come. Walk with me, Claire."
"Where did you come from?" she whispers, still in shock.
The man turns and hands baby Aaron back into her arms. "I'm sorry I startled you," he says. They walk together into the jungle, further away from the light of the campfire. Claire follows from behind, still in shock. The darkness of the jungle encompasses them; she looks back at the campfire to gauge how far they've walked.
"It's really dark," she says. "Maybe we should stay a little closer to the camp fire."
Suddenly, a torch instantaneously flares up in the man's hand. It brightens the vegetation around them, even brighter than the campfire they came from. Tiny shadows formed by leaves flicker against the tree trunks and forest floor; insects awaken and flutter close to the flame. Baby Aaron opens his eyes and is quietly mesmerized by the scenery of shadow and light.
"Is this better?" the man asks, with a smirk on his face.
Claire isn't quite sure whether he picked up the torch or if it magically appeared in his hand. "Yes, thank you. That's much better," she says. She gets a closer look at her father's face; he's younger than she remembers. He's slightly unshaven, and wearing pants and boots fit for trekking through the jungle. "So, why are you here, now?" she asks him.
"I came here to protect you and your friends," he says.
He turns and continues his trek even deeper into the woods; Claire continues to follow. "Protect us? But we're about to be rescued in the morning," she says.
He slows his pace, and walks with Claire shoulder to shoulder. "If I were you Claire, I wouldn't step foot on that freighter."
"Why not?" she questions. "They're here to rescue us."
"The people on that freighter were never here to rescue anybody."
Claire looks back down at her baby; she's determined to do whatever it takes to get her and her baby off the Island. "It's been 3 months since the crash. Nobody ever came for us, until them," she replies.
He sighs, hoping to be more persuasive. "What if I told you, that in the end, only three of you survive?"
She stops mid stride and looks back again at the campfire now flickering in the far distance . A cold chill covers her neck. This is far enough she thinks to herself. "I'm sorry; did you just say only three of us survive?" she asks, beginning to worry.
"Yes, only three," he answers firmly, hoping he finally has her attention. "And you don't leave by getting to the freighter; you leave on an Ajira airliner that takes off from Hydra Island." He brings the torch closer to his face to emphasize his sincerity. "Out of all the survivors of Oceanic 815; only you, Katherine Austen, and James Ford live to tell about it."
Claire looks back down to baby Aaron in her arms with worried eyes. "But what about my baby?" her voice quivers.
"That will ultimately be up to you."
She instinctively holds Aaron a little tighter. "Wait." She stops hiking mid stride again. "How do you know it will happen like this?"
"Because I've spoken with somebody who knows the future," he replies, without pausing to wait for her again.
"Knows the future? But how is that possible?"
"The Island makes it possible," he says as he steps further into the jungle. "We only have a little further to go. There's something I need to show you."
(to be continued!)