Sayid pulled up in front of a rundown motel just a while after the sun had gone down completely, and Hurley felt nervous. The place looked shady to say the least, with people loitering outside the rooms smoking, hooded gang members forming circles and staring at the car. A few of the rooms appeared to be boarded up, and Hurley saw a few stray cats running through the parking lot. One had a large rat in its mouth.
"What are we doing here?" Hurley asked.
Sayid was already starting to get out of the car, "We'll be staying here for a few days."
"Dude, is it…safe?"
"Perfectly. Now come on."
Reluctantly, Hurley stepped out of the car as well, and Phantom Charlie was beside him in an instant. "Not exactly the Ritz is it?"
"Um, Sayid," Hurley walked quickly to keep up with his friend, "what's going on anyway? Like, why did you bring me here and stuff?"
"To protect you from Charles Widmore, of course. When my employer informed me that Sawyer was going to have to released from the hospital tonight I went as quickly as I could to get there ahead of him."
"You think Widmore was behind Sawyer getting me out?"
"It's possible. Regardless of whether or not that's the case, you'll be much safer here."
Hurley glanced around skeptically, "You sure, Dude? How long will I have to hang out here anyway? I'd kinda' like to go home."
"You'll remain here just until I can locate Charles Widmore and dispose of him."
Hurley swallowed hard.
"Bollocks." Charlie muttered. "That could be a long time, couldn't it?"
"Uh. Won't that like take a while?"
"No." Sayid said simply. "I intend to find him within the week, and as soon as I do he will no longer be a problem."
Hurley didn't like the cold, calculated quality to Sayid's voice. There was something deadly about it, a blackness that hadn't existed when he was on the island.
"What about Jack and Kate and the others? Who's keeping them safe?"
"Unfortunately, at the moment, it's Sawyer. But I'll change that as soon as time allows."
"He'd never hurt Kate or Jack." Hurley said confidently.
"Not knowingly. I doubt it."
Sayid reached into his pocket and got out a key, walked up to room 15. The white paint was chipped and pealing, the brass numbers tarnished, and the door knob was scratched. He unlocked it regardless, revealing a pure black room that smelled like old cigarette smoke, and looked at Hurley, "Follow me." Then he disappeared into the dark.
Trying to overcome his uneasiness, Hurley began to follow.
Phantom Charlie lingered, "Hurley…I don't like this."
Hurley looked back at him, "Dude. I need you."
Charlie kept looking into the room uncertainly, "Mate, you don't know what's in there. Who's in there. It could be a trap."
"C'mon, Man, don't bail on me. We can trust Sayid."
Still, Charlie looked reluctant.
Sayid called from within the room, "Hurley? Who are you talking to?"
"No one, Dude." With one last pleading look to Charlie, he followed Sayid, was relieved to find that the ghost of his friend came in behind him.
The room was small, seemingly crammed full of furniture—two twin sized bed against the left wall, a bathroom at the back, and a tiny TV set on the right. It smelled horrible, and the darkness bothered Hurley. He groped for a light switch but didn't find one.
Near the back of the room was a small, dark figure, sitting perfectly still, as if waiting.
"Who's that?" Charlie whispered, stepping closer to Hurley. It was strange that a ghost would be afraid. Then again, Charlie was really just a product of his deranged mind, wasn't he?
"Hello Hugo."
Hurley felt his breath catch in his lungs. He knew that voice all too well, and it brought back wave upon wave of terrifying, chilling memories that he had tried hard to forget over the last five years. For reassurance, he looked at Sayid, who had stepped to the side, and was standing there stiffly. He didn't even look at Hurley.
A dim, orange light flickered on and Benjamin Linus was smiling back at Hurley, just the way Hurley remembered him, with bugging, blue eyes and that cold, sly grin.
"It's been a long time." Ben said, coming forward with a hand extended.
Hurley and Charlie leapt back in the same instant.
"You!" Hurley cried.
"Him?"
Ben's smile didn't falter, "Yes. It's me. I'm sorry if you were expecting someone else."
"Dude," Hurley turned to Sayid, "What's he doing here?"
Sayid lowered his eyes, obviously not wanting to admit something."
"I told you not to come in here, Hurley," Charlie practically yelled, "and I was right! This blighter planned the whole sodding thing!"
"Calm down, Hugo," Ben suggested, finally lowering his hand. "Have a seat. I'm sorry we can't offer you anything to drink, but do feel free to make yourself at home."
"What do you want?" Hurley demanded. "Are you telling me you sent Sayid to get me?"
"Yes, and lucky for you I did. Otherwise you might be in Widmore's clutches by now."
"No way, man! I was way better off with Sawyer!"
"I'm sure Sayid already told you, but I'd like to reiterate that at the moment Sawyer cannot be trusted."
"Since when can you be trusted?"
"Believe it or not, Hugo, I'm trying to help you and your friends."
"Yeah, well I don't believe it! Why should I? All you've ever done is lie and put people in cages and stuff!"
"Those days are over, Hugo. No matter what my motives are, the fact of the matter is that you and I are on the same side, even if it is only because Charles Widmore is on the other side."
"I don't want to be on your side." Hurley whispered, starting to back away. "I'm getting out of here."
"Hurley," Sayid spoke for the first time, "I understand this is difficult to accept-and I don't like it any more than you do-but-"
"Dude, shut up! You brought me here! You're working for this guy! How can I trust you any more than I trust him?"
Sayid seemed vaguely hurt, but he said no more.
Phantom Charlie tugged at Hurley's shirt, "Hurley, let's get the hell out of this place."
"Right Dude." Hurley glanced warily from Ben to Sayid, and then, as quickly as he could burst back out through the door and started running, not sure where he was going or how to get there. He looked frantically for some direction, some sign for what way he should take.
Sayid and Ben came out after him, shouting.
"Hurley wait!"
"Hugo, just listen for a minute! Charles Widmore is after you and your friends! The only thing you can do is-"
"Get away from me!" Hurley screaming, continuing to run as fast as his large body would allow. People were staring, murmuring to each other, but no one moved to help him. Hurley darted to the street and stood there, watching the traffic zoom by and praying for a chance to run across the road.
"Hurley!" Sayid ran up to him.
"Stay back!" Hurley backed away.
"Hurley, listen to me—I understand how upsetting this is, but it's the only way!"
"Dude, listen to yourself! How can you trust that guy? Just think of all the crap he did to us!"
"Believe me. I hate Benjamin Linus, and if I could kill him, I would. But at the moment, he's our best chance to get rid of Charles Widmore and protect our friends!"
"Give me one good reason why I should believe that!"
A yellow taxi suddenly screeched to a halt outside the motel and a few people got out, laughing and joking.
"Hurley!" Charlie grabbed at Hurley's shirt again, "Look! Quick! Quick!" Then he started running toward the cab.
Hurley turned to run after him as fast as he could.
Sayid shouted and dove for him, trying to grab him, but he wasn't quick enough, and Hurley got to the cab and clambered in.
"Hurry!" He yelled at the driver. "Those guys are after me!"
The cabbie gave him a strange look in the rearview mirror. "Where ya' goin'?"
Stuttering a little, Hurley gave his home address, and added 'Step on it' for good measure.
The cab driver pealed out just as Sayid got to the car door and made a wild grab for the handle. His hand was wrenched away as the car pulled out, and he was left standing on the side of the road, looking totally lost.
Hurley stared out the back window at him for a while, making sure no one was following him, then he turned around, sank down into the seat with a sigh.
It took him a second to realize Charlie was talking to him. "I don't think it's a good idea, Hurley, goin' to your mum's house."
Hurley looked at him and started to ask why before remembering that they weren't alone.
"They'll know to look for you there." Phantom Charlie had taken his sunglasses off at last and was looking at Hurley seriously. "If I were you, I'd hide out somewhere else."
Hurley thought that over a little frantically. Where could he hide out? Was there a place Sayid and Ben wouldn't be able to find him at? Friends he could rely on? The only friends that came to mind were Jack and Kate, but wouldn't Sayid know to check there?
Maybe. But maybe not. And even if he did look there, there was safety in numbers. Maybe if Hurley stayed with Jack and Kate Sayid wouldn't be able to make him go back with him to Ben. It was worth a shot.
He dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, began to go through it in a blind panic, looking for Jack's address. "Dude," he called out to the driver when he found the slightly yellowed, creased bit of paper, "I changed my mind."
Jack stared hard out the window at the house across the street. Most of the windows on the first floor were all lit up, and every now and then he saw shadowy figures of people walking around, but there weren't any cars in the driveway. That seemed strange. From the look of it, at least two people were living there—could they keep both cars in the garage? And why hadn't there been any moving vans? Had he just not noticed? Something about it bothered him.
He heard Kate coming up behind him. "I put Aaron to bed. It would be nice if you'd go up and read him a story or something."
"Right. In a minute." Jack kept both eyes on the house across the street, wondering if he was just being paranoid.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. It just looks like we have some new neighbors."
Kate's brow creased as she leaned forward to look out the window. "Yeah. I guess so. Does that bother you?"
Jack studied the house a minute longer before standing up straight again and trying to smile, "No. I just didn't realize the place had been sold."
"Maybe they have some kids Aaron can play with." Kate murmured. "There aren't any kids in this neighborhood—I don't want him to be lonely."
"Maybe." Jack agreed. He looked intently at her face, memorizing every line and curve of her feature. Then he touched her hand, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll make some friends."
Smiling, she stood up as well, "You're right. I shouldn't worry so much."
Jack nodded and started to turn toward the stairs.
"By the way, Jack, you said you saw someone today. Who was it?"
He stopped. His encounter with Sayid had been so long ago that he had almost forgotten it had been earlier that morning. It seemed almost insignificant after his conversation with Christian. "Oh. Right. I totally forgot." He started to say 'Sayid', but then stopped himself, wondering if maybe it would be better if she didn't know. He'd have to think it over before just telling her arbitrarily.
She looked at him expectantly.
Jack grinned, "I'll tell you about it later, all right?"
Kate nodded, but she looked a little confused.
He sighed. He hated having to lie to her, and he really wanted to tell her the truth, especially after everything that had been going on lately, but he wasn't sure that he could. Maybe it was in her best interest to not know. Discretion. There were a lot of things these days that required discretion. Like whether or not they should continue on with the wedding as planned. He hated that just as soon as they'd made the decision to settle down together there was stuff getting in the way. All these complications.
"Hey." He started to make his way back to her, reaching out for her hand. "Kate, about this morning, those things I said to you…I just wanted to tell you that I-"
Kate suddenly looked away, back toward the window, and at first he thought she was just being difficult.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"I thought I heard something outside. Like a car."
"I didn't hear anything."
Not answering, she drifted toward the window, stood there a moment, stiffly, "Someone's here."
Inexplicably, Jack's heart started to beat a little faster. There'd been too much drama lately to take the news lightly. "Maybe…they're just lost." He glanced at the clock. It was ten thirty. Who would drop by unexpectedly like this.
My father. Sawyer. Sayid…He realized for the first time that there might be a lot of people showing up at random.
The car outside lingered a moment, and then pulled away.
Jack breathed a sight of relief.
"Guess it was just-"
The doorbell rang suddenly, stopping the relief short.
Kate turned to look at him, eyes sort of worried, and they just stared at each other a second.
The bell rang two more times, a little sporadically.
At last, Jack muttered, "I'll get it." It was better than putting Kate in danger. He walked toward the door, listening carefully, wondering who to expect on the other side, and then, slowly, he opened it, just a little. "Hello?"
"Jack!"
"Hurley?" He was so startled to see Hurley on the other side of the door that he couldn't even move for a few seconds. "What are you doing here?"
"It's a long story, Dude, can I come in?"
"Oh, yeah. Of course." Jack pushed the door the rest of the way open and looked at his fiancée, "Look who it is, Kate."
She looked just as startled as he felt. "Hurley? What's going on?"
"Uh, nothin', just a little… Nothin'."
"I thought you were in the hospital." Jack shut the door and watched Hurley come into the room, glancing back and forth like he expected to see danger. He didn't have any luggage or even a coat. It was weird.
"I just got out today."
"Really? That's good news. Make yourself at home."
Kate asked, "Do you want anything to drink."
"No thanks, Dude. I'm sorry to show up like this, but…uh, it was like, sort of an emergency."
Jack didn't like hearing that. The last thing they needed was another emergency. "What kind of emergency?"
Hurley hesitated, and it almost looked like he was listening to someone, and then he turned to him, shrugging a little. "I just needed a place to crash for a while. This was the first place I thought of."
"What about your house?"
"I can't go home right now."
"But-"
"Dude, just do me a favor and don't ask any questions. Please."
Jack stared at Hurley, wondering why he couldn't go home and what it was he was hiding, but he knew it would be a waste of time to ask, so he just nodded, "Fine. All right, we won't. You can tell us when you're ready."
Hurley nodded. There was something about the look in his eyes that bothered Jack—like he was afraid of something. Maybe he'd escaped from the hospital or something.
"Well," Kate said, breaking the uneasy silence, "I'll go up and get the guest room ready for you."
"Thanks, Kate."
She smiled, touching his arm as she passed, "No problem."
Both men waited until she was gone, and then Hurley lumbered over and sank onto the couch. He said something to himself, but Jack didn't catch what it was.
More awkward silence filled the room. It had been years since Jack had seen Hurley, and he wasn't sure what to make of him just showing up like this. It was weird that so many people from his past were just reappearing so nonchalantly. It made him wonder if something was about to go wrong.
He was just about to ask Hurley how he'd been when Hurley looked up casually, "So, Dude, you seen Sawyer lately?"
"Sawyer? Yeah. A little. I mean, he… he's been around."
Hurley nodded, "How's he been?"
"He seemed all right."
Nodding again, Hurley was quiet a while. Was it a coincidence he was asking about Sawyer, or had he run into him as well?
"How about Sayid? Seen him at all?"
Jack was silent a minute. Could that be a coincidence? If Hurley had seen both Sayid and Sawyer recently did that have something to do with him showing up here today?
"Actually, yeah. I saw Sayid earlier today."
"Was he alone?"
"…Yeah."
Hurley was quiet again. He mumbled a little more, then studied the vase on the glass coffee table like it was extremely interesting.
"You okay, Hurley?"
"What? Yeah, Dude. I'm fine. Just…had sort of a weird day. Maybe I'll tell you about it later. Right now I'm just tired."
"Sure. I understand."
After that they were quiet until Kate came back, announcing that the room was ready, and then Hurley got up, thanked her again and started to go upstairs.
"I'm sorry we don't have anything for you to sleep in," Kate said, "but there should be an extra toothbrush up their in the medicine cabinet.
When he was gone, Jack sat down, trying to figure out what had brought him here in the first place, and what it had to do with Sayid and Sawyer.
Kate sat down beside her fiancé, looking a little bothered, "What do you think he's doing here?"
Jack shrugged. "I have no idea."
"Do you think he's okay?"
Again he wondered if he should tell her about the events from earlier today, about Sayid and the questions Hurley had asked, but in the end he decided that as long as he didn't know anything for sure, there was no point in scaring her. So he just smiled half-heartedly and leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead.
He said, "I'm sure everything's fine." Even though he was sure that everything was slowly coming apart.
Hi everyone!
I felt bad about sort of slacking on this for the last month or however long it's been, and since Wednesday marked the end of Lost season 5 I thought I'd crank out another chapter for this week! hope you liked it.
I'm bummed that Lost is over for the season, and I HATE having to wait for a whole year before we get to find out what happens, and even though I never thought I'd say this, I'm sorry Juliet died (of course knowing Lost she may or may not stay dead), so in light of all that, I'm going to try to make this story last as long as I can, and do my best to update every week, even though my life is pretty busy these days. I've got quite a few more ideas, so I hope everyone likes long stories!
Thanks for all the reads and reviews—you guys kick ass!
- Suta