"But Mother, I don't want to go to Hurley's," Star protested, her voice still kept pleasantly low. The girl was developing a bit of a backbone in her teenage years, but she still maintained the sense of composure and decorum that her mother had worked so hard to instill in her. "The kids are so little. . .I'm too old for it."
"Is Aaron still going?" Sun asked mildly. Star blushed a little. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that 15 year old Aaron was the island heartthrob. Sun, who so rarely managed to convince her daughter to open up, had once gotten her started on a fifteen minute discussion of the boy's blue eyes.
"I don't care if Aaron's going," Star said. "I don't want to go."
"Honey, do not whine," Sun said. "Did something happen between you and Aaron?"
"No, Mom, nothing happened. It's just. . .I'm fourteen years old, I don't want to have to go to daycare with the babies anymore. I'm just a glorified babysitter."
"Hurley needs your help," Sun said. "Please go."
Star sighed, but quit arguing. She knew that, after her mother's request, she would go. It was just the way that things worked between them. Sun never insulted her dignity by commanding or ordering her to do anything, and in return Star attempted to be the perfect daughter. Although sometimes it was really difficult.
Like, for instance, this particular moment, when the very last thing that she wanted to do was go to Hurley's, and have to look at Him and at Her. And remember that she had seen them, just a week ago, their lips practically glued to each other. She could feel the blush rising again, and forced herself to calm down.
"All right, Mom," she said finally. "I'll go. But I'm not going to like it."
"That's my sweetheart," Sun said, giving the girl a light peck on the to pof the head. "I'll be at the store, so if I'm not home when Hurley kicks you all out, just sotp by and I'll find you something to eat."
"Thanks, Mom," Star said, not mentioning that she'd been able to find her own food for five years now. Sometimes parents just wanted to feel needed.
She walked outside and waited patiently for Him to come by with the rope. This was the really humiliating part. She'd asked before if she could just pick up the kids on her side of the beach, but Hugo insisted that they all arrive at once. He said that it was easier for him if it was a clean, abrupt blow. So she had to sit around and wait, just like the little two year old babies.
"Hey Star!" Aaron said when he was within earshot. Liam and Virgo both perked up at the sound of her name, and also began yelling enthusiastic greetings. Star forced a smile on her own face as she stepped forward and grabbed the back end of the rope.
"Hello, Virgo, hello Liam," she said. Virgo burst into a bright, gap-toothed smile.
"She said hi to me, first!" she announced proudly. Liam looked about ready to break into tears.
"That's because you're my favorite Pace girl," Star said quickly, and then turning to Liam continued, "but don't worry, buddy, you're my favorite Pace boy."
"Hey," Aaron asked good-naturedly. "What about me?" Liam stucked his tongue out, eliciting another laugh from his elder brother. Aaron turned to Star, trying to catch her eye in one of their shared 'boy, are these little kids stupid' looks, but she refused to look back at him. Confused, he continued to herald the kids along.
As Austin and Diane grabbed the last chunk of rope, Star found herself having to let go. She stuck her hands in her back pockets, and just walked along behind the kids. She made a mental note to get a longer rope from her mother, since between the growing number of kids and their own size growth, the current one was nearly done for.
"Hey, Hurley!" Aaron yelled out as they neared the cave. The younger kids glanced anxiously between him and Star, ready to let go of the rope the second that the older kids weren't looking. Star was ready for them, however, and placed her hands threateningly on her hips. Abashed, Candi stuck a finger in her mouth, D opted for a thumb, and Diane smacked her brother.
"Hey little dudes!" Hugo seemed particularly on his game today. Little placemats had already been arranged for all of the kids, and he'd even lit a few candles to give some light. The snacks were well-organized at the back wall. Star looked at him questioningly.
"Angela helped me out a bit," he explained. She smiled back at him.
The beginning of the day went exceptionally smoothly. Only one fight broke out between Liam and Austin over who got to play with the toy plane, and only E cried when his F accidentally stepped on the design he had drawn in the sand. By the time snack hour rolled around, most of the kids were just about wiped out, and seemed content to just lie down and quietly eat their Dharma fish crackers.
"So, what should we do a story about today?" Hurley asked.
"Mangoes!" G shouted, ducking out of sight before Austin could kick him.
"Do one about fishies," Virgo suggested, as she began zooming one of them toward her own mouth.
"Just don't talk about Stupid Jack," Diane said. Austin seemed to agree with her, since he started shouting out "Stupid Jack, Stupid Jack, Stupid Jack!"
"Dude. . ." Hurley shook his head in surprise at their animosity. Star went over and whispered in his ear.
"Jack called her honey last night." Hurley nodded his head, clearly understanding.
"You know what," he said. "I think I've got the perfect story," and then, before G had the opportunity to say anything else, he added "Yes, it has mangoes in it. Anyway, this is a story about Desmond."
Nine kids simultaneously yelled "Yea!" recognizing that their father very rarely got an entire story about himself. Hurley winced a little at his deception.
Once upon a time, a group of people lived upon this island. They called themselves the Others.
"That's not true!" Amelie suddenly said. "My mother told me. She called them the Others, but they thought that we were the Others."
Star rolled her eyes. Stupid little know-it-all. Certainly knew how to stab her tongue down a poor, unsuspecting boy's throat. But then, she fiercely thought at herself to cease such cruel thoughts. She was, after all, above such jealousy.
Though she did wish her hair would curl like that.
Once upon a time, a group of people lived upon this island, when a plane crash made sixty or something other people land on the island as well. The native dudes weren't too happy with that, so they quickly staged an attack on the plane crash victims. First, they killed some of them off. Then they tried to steal a pregnant girl. Then. . .a lot of other stuff happened, which brings us to the real story.
Rose was still aching, every single day, from the death of her husband. Nothing could console her. Everybody was reminded of her pain immediately following the crash, when she had discovered that Bernard wasn't one of the survivors. But then she'd had faith. Now she had absolutely nothing.
Jack sighed as
I said no Jack! yelled Diane.
You said it was about Dad, complained G.
Be quiet and you'll find out.
He looked down on the woman. She lay there, extremely pale, shirt sleeves rolled up, and two telling, jagged scars running across her wrists.
"Oh, Rose," he murmured, bringing over a glass of water for when she woke up. He shook his head as he left her to go hit the stupid button. He was a doctor, and he liked to think that he was good at what he did; namely, saving lives. He could fix broken bones, abraded skin, lesions, rashes, anything physical. But he had no idea how to deal with such mental distress.
Not for the first time, he wished that Libby were still alive. She'd said she was a clinical psychologist, hadn't she? Maybe she would have known what to do with a suicidal woman.
"Are you going?"
Jack whirled around to face the strange man.
"Kelvin, how did you get out here?" he demanded. The stranger, who had burst out of the jungle only a few weeks ago in a frighteningly familiar beige jumpsuit, gave no answer. He merely strode arrogantly over to the comatose woman and helped himself to a drink of her water.
"Hey!" Jack protested. Kelvin showed no sign of having heard, so the doctor walked over, and physically tore the glass out of his grasp. "That does not belong to you."
"You either," Kelvin spat. He sat down heavily on the couch. "You'd better go," he said gruffly.
"Yeah, well," Jack clenched his jaw and moved his head angrily, not quite sure what he should look at to calm down. "That's my decision, isn't it." Kelvin shrugged his shoulder. Jack sighed, and set about the boring and monotonous job of cleaning up the main room of the hatch.
At half past the third palm tree, Desmond came down, prepared to take his shift on hatch duty. He stiffened as he passed Kelvin, but refused to give any indication that he had seen the other man.
"Jack," he said formally. "I think it would be best if you and I spoke for a moment. Alone."
Jack glanced at Kelvin, but the strange man showed no intention of leaving or going anywhere. So, shrugging, he followed Desmond into a back room.
"Have you decided what to do about our situation?" he asked. Jack sighed.
"Look, I understand that the message was important," Jack said. "But last time. . ."
"They're not all dead," Desmond said. "You saw that when you went to get Walt. You have to believe that now. They're not dead, and they will carry out their threat. Do you understand me, brother?"
Jack sighed. "Yeah, I get it."
"I have a family now," Desmond said. He peered intently into Jack's eyes. "I have to protect them." It took Jack another moment to realize who the Scottish man was referring to, before finally recognizing it as Danielle Rousseau and Alex. Kelvin's message had directly threatened the two women. Of course Desmond was concerned.
"All right," Jack said finally. "We'll leave tonight."
"Shouldn't we get the others?" Desmond asked. "More guns?"
"No," Jack said abruptly. "No one else. It's you and me, or no show, got it?"
Desmond nodded his head, clapped Jack on the back, and then walked back into the main chamber where he proceeded to ignore Kelvin. Jack sighed, grabbed a pack, and headed down to the beach. He had one more mission to complete before he could head out on another adventure.
"How is he?" he asked Sun as he neared her. She smiled up at him, most of the haunted look in her eyes gone. She looked down tenderly on her husband where he lay, still heavily bandaged.
"He is much better," she said finally. "He held Star for a while today. It hurt him, but I think it made him feel good."
"Good, good," Jack said, and handed her the bottle of anti-bacterial ointment. "Keep changing those bandages daily, and every other day put a little of this on the burns."
Sun looked up at him, surprise in her deep brown eyes. "Are you leaving?" she asked.
"Just for a little bit," Jack said, trying to give her a warm smile. He wasn't surprised that it came out looking more scared. "I'll be back before you know it. Have you seen Kate or Sawyer?" she looked confused for a moment, and this time Jack allowed real warmth to touch his eyes. "Got to make contact with all my raft burn victims before I leave."
Sun nodded her head and pointed down the beach. Jack headed down toward Sawyer's hut, where sure enough Kate and the conman were sitting. Sawyer was sitting, leaning against his hut, glasses on and a Glamour magazine spread before him, while Kate was lying down, her head in his lap, and her eyes drowzily shut.
". . .be sensitive, but you're not about to let anyone tell you what to do," Sawyer read. He held the magazine off to the side and smiled down fondly at the woman in his lap. "Sure as hell does sound like you, don't it, Freckles?"
"Here," Jack said, startling both of them. Sawyer almost dropped the magazine, and Kate jumped into an upright position.
"Hey Jack," she said, trying to push her hair back out of her face, with little success. "We didn't see you there."
Jack ignored her, and dropped some bandages and ointment into Sawyer's lap. "Change those dressings every day," he ordered. "Ointment every other day."
"Aye-aye, cap'n," Sawyer said with a smart salute. Kate leapt to her feet.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Nowhere," he said, knowing better than to give her even the hint of an adventure. He couldn't be sure that she would come—not when Sawyer was still recovering from his burns—but neither could he be sure that she wouldn't. Easier to just pretend nothing was different. "I just thought you could take it from here."
"Oh, okay," Kate nodded her head, and sat back down. "Yeah. Sure."
"Good," Jack nodded his head and continued down the beach. Just one more stop.
"Lying to the ex?" Ana asked, taking him from surprise. Jack turned around and smiled at her.
"More or less," he said. "Look, Ana, Desmond and I are going into the jungle."
"Kelvin's message?" she asked, understanding immediately what he was talking about. Jack nodded his head. True, there was something very special about Kate, but
"Stop it!" Diane yelled, jumping to her feet. Her face was an alarming shade of red, frightening enough to even cause Hurley to pause in his story-telling. Star turned to look at her, as surprised as anyone. "Come on, Austin," Diane ordered, grabbing her little brother by the arm and pulling him up.
"Whoa, dude, what's going on?" Hurley protested, standing up. Diane just turned to glare at him.
"I told you no story about Jack," she snarled. "And then you had to drag Mom into it!"
Ah, there it was. Star sighed as she recognized the mistake that Hurley had made. It was a shame, really, that Diane and Austin always got so upset about that kind of thing. It wasn't like they were the only ones who had lost parents. She'd barely known her Father when he'd passed on, and she never freaked out when a story was told about Jin.
Then again, though, her father had been much more solid and much less interesting. It wasn't very likely that he would be insulted. Ever.
Diane and Austin, however, being what they were, couldn't take it, and they ran out of the cave. Hurley looked like he was panicking. Star sighed. She supposed that it was specifically for times like this that her mother was so intent on her going to Hurleys.
"Don't worry," she told the big man. "I'll go get them."