Naomi said they found our plane and back home we're all believed to be dead, Alice was just thinking about the new information Jack had given her the day before. She kept on wondering why she hadn't reacted any other way but by saying that it didn't really matter. It didn't matter for her because there was no one out there, no one back home crying for her, grieving for her. She did feel sorry for Jack, though, since his mother thought she'd lost both her son and husband. Only when it came to Alice, it really didn't matter. She kind of wondered what had happened to her bookshop, but she didn't worry about it. She'd been through enough pain in her life to learn that there was no point in worrying about things one had no control over. People were what mattered. Still, there was one thing that fascinated her. What was the plane that had been discovered? Who were the dead people in it? If they weren't them, then who? How someone could have made such a tragic mistake? It seemed impossible, incomprehensible. There was only one plausible explanation and it raised goose bumps on Alice's arms – somebody simply didn't want them to be found.
She didn't even have the time to think about it more as everything seemed to happen so fast. Everything usually did. You were living in stagnation, just counting days and then suddenly, things moved on and you couldn't comprehend how fast the time flew. It was happening now when Juliet, as a double spy, informed the survivors that the others were coming for the pregnant women and then Alex's boyfriend, Karl, arrived telling them that they were coming not the next day, but tonight.
Alice felt lost in the commotion, not really knowing what to do, how to help or how to contribute to helping her people. She just helplessly watched Jack dictating the rest things to do. He and Danielle brought dynamite to the camp to set a trap for the others.
"We can't run anymore," he was just saying to the crowd. "This time we can fight and we have a huge chance of winning because we have the advantage of knowing when and how they'll come. Juliet will mark the tents of the supposedly pregnant women, but instead of our people, there'll be dynamite inside. Dynamite which we'll blow up from the distance, killing the enemy on the spot!"
Everyone nodded in agreement, thinking the plan a very good one. Alice secretly hated the bloodshed that would soon occur, but she also understood that the enemy was ruthless and never hesitated to kill. She would've been long dead if it hadn't been for Jack, so she had to agree that the attack was the best solution.
The next step was to unblock the frequency Juliet informed Ben jammed. It was then when she revealed the existence of the underwater station called The Looking Glass. Once Charlie volunteered, Alice was hit with that strange premonition of hers and she wondered if she should try to stop him. Only then she saw him arguing with both Claire and Desmond who were clearly trying to do the very same thing to no avail. She retreated, feeling that she wasn't needed.
In the end, only three men stayed behind – when not counting Desmond and Charlie who were going to the underwater station – and Alice's job was to simply pack all the most necessary things and set off towards the radio tower with the rest.
Once her group was already taken care of, Alice walked aside and sat down on the sand, taking as much rest as she could before going. She watched Jack from the distance. He was still giving commands, telling people what to do and what to take with them. At the moment he felt awfully distant and somehow unreachable. It was then that Kate joined her.
"He just wants to get you out of here, you know," she said as though she knew what Alice was thinking about and was trying to make her feel better.
"I know," Alice answered with a nod. "It's just… I wanted to come back, to get out of this island, but now… it's happening so fast… and I feel like I'm losing him. I can't even explain it. It doesn't make any sense. Jack loves me. He said it many times and he's planning our future together once we get out." It was a weird, nearly scary feeling, but in the same time Alice knew she shouldn't really be worried. Damn Locke and what he told her, she thought because she actually started to believe him! She knew that her current fears were completely irrational, she was just scared of the future because suddenly it all became real as it was truly going to happen. Maybe she should just let the fear go and let herself be happy.
"He really does love you. It's so clear on his face every time he looks at you," Kate agreed with a smile and Alice finally reciprocated it. "And once we're out, we can start new lives."
"Yes, we can."
Eventually, Kate left, joining Sawyer and finally, Alice saw Jack heading her way. When he was right by her side, he lent her a hand to help her up.
"Ready?" he asked. "What's wrong?" followed immediately after.
"Nothing," she answered, not wanting to bother him with unimportant things. "Everything's fine."
"I love you, you know that, right? All I do, I do for you."
She nodded, smiling to him and try to force back the tears. It still surprised her sometimes that someone could care about her this much. Then he leaned towards her and kissed her gently on the lips.
"It'll all be over soon and we'll finally get the chance to start our lives together."
"I can't wait."
Next, Jack made sure everyone was ready to go and after taking Alice's hand, he led the way.
Something bad would happen, though, Alice could feel it and at this point she really hated her 'gift' as Locke referred to it. The feeling – she still refused to think of it as a premonition – wasn't so strong this time, so she was pretty sure she didn't have to be worried about Jack.
Once they actually heard more shots than expected coming from the beach, she again was assured that she wasn't imagining it and that it wasn't accidental. She really could tell if something was going to happen, but clearly, she never knew what it would be and therefore, most of the times she wasn't able to do anything about it. Yes, she decided, it was definitely a curse.
When sometime later the signal from Naomi's satellite phone was still blocked, that feeling hit Alice even stronger, but somehow she could deduct that it didn't concern anyone near her.
"Something's terribly wrong," she told Jack.
"Well, we all know that, sweetie," Sawyer spoke. He and Kate must've heard Alice's hushed voice because they were right behind her and Jack.
"No, trust me, something is wrong," she repeated and the couple frowned, looking at Jack.
"If she says there's a problem, there is a problem," the doctor just said.
"But…" James started again.
"I really don't have the time to explain," Alice interrupted, pretty agitated by now. "Jack, they need our help. We need to send some people back to the beach."
"No," he denied without even thinking about it. "Alice, I hear you, I do, but I can't just endanger more of our people."
"I'll go," Kate volunteered. "I can handle it."
"Like hell you're going!" Sawyer got mad.
"No one tells me what to do!" she answered him back.
Jack looked nervously to the rest of his people, worried that they might've heard enough by now to figure something out.
"Just do what you want, the both of you," he finally said. "And stop talking."
"If you're so stubborn, you ain't goin alone!" Sawyer called after already retreating Kate and caught up with her.
After about twenty minutes, it happened again and this time it came as a sharp pang from the inside of her stomach. Alice reached her hand sideway to stop Jack.
"What…?" he barely started when they all came to a stop on seeing Benjamin Linus and Alex coming towards them.
Once Ben actually asked to talk to Jack in private, Alice wasn't able to calm down. She was sick of all those foreign sensations and wished they'd just ended. The only comfort she had right now was that nothing wacky occurred again, so she figured Jack was safe.
…but she started worrying all over again when she saw him coming back with Ben covered in blood. Alice could also see that blood on Jack's hands and she guessed that he'd beaten the guy up. But why? What happened?
"He's coming with us," Jack just said when bounding Ben's wrists with a piece of rope.
At that point Alice walked over to him and asked, "Jack, what's wrong?" She knew something bad happened and she didn't need any 'magical powers' to see that. Jack seemed shaken and she could tell that he was doing his best not to break and to be strong in front of his already scared people.
He didn't answer her, maybe he was afraid his voice would waver, she wasn't sure, but he did go aside and once she followed him there, too, she could hear him taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself down.
"Jack? Please, just tell me," she encouraged one more time, almost sure that he would yield since there was no one eavesdropping.
"He killed them," she heard the words coming from Jack's mouth and felt her blood freeze over. "All free of them. Sayid. Bernard. Jin. And I let it happen. I had to let it happen. But you can't tell Sun or Rose. Not now." His voice finally broke and she saw tears glistening in his eyes. She was in shock at hearing the news and she really wanted to take some of his pain and guilt away, but it just didn't work this way. She did all she could in this situation and that was to put her arms around him and be there for him, stay like this long enough for him to calm down and be able to come back to the rest.
They resumed their walk again, but the atmosphere was much heavier than before. Maybe it was because of Ben's presence or maybe because everyone could tell that something bad had happened, something Jack was hiding from them until they were ready to learn the dreadful truth.
It happened near the tower. The walkie-talkie Jack had taken from Ben suddenly came live and they heard Hurley's voice.
"Hurley?" Jack answered, surprised to hear him. "Where are you?"
Everyone seemed to automatically look around and notice that Hugo, just like Sawyer and Kate, was gone. Only no one had really remembered him disappearing. Still, it was hard to since he was always the last one, never fast enough to catch up.
"Jack?! I'm on the beach, man! I saved everyone! We're all safe and the others are all dead!" Hurley responded in a cheerful tone.
"Wait… what?" Jack asked again, not believing him. "What do you mean you saved everyone? Are… are Bernard, Sayid and Jin with you?"
"Sure, man! We're all here! I told ya, I saved them all!"
Alice and Jack exchanged surprised but happy looks and then Jack couldn't resist but look at Ben with triumph in his eyes, letting him know that he lost.
Next, the light on Naomi's telephone turned from red to green, meaning Charlie had succeeded and they could now communicate with the boat waiting a few miles off coast. They quickly reached the tower station and Rousseau turned off her eighteen years old transmission.
Alice remembered with slight nostalgia the first moment she'd actually heard the French woman talking. She remembered how cold and terrified she'd felt once Shannon had started translating, informing them that 'they're all dead' and how Sayid figured out how long this message had been travelling through the ether. She felt sad about Shannon being gone, about her brother dying as well. The island, no matter how magnificent it was with its fast healing process and miracles – wasn't a happy place, after all. Then again, if it could heal so perfectly, if Locke could walk, if Rose didn't have cancer anymore and if Jin and Sun conceived a baby, why Alice just couldn't get pregnant herself? Not that she complained much about it after she heard the brutal truth from Juliet, but she was still wondering.
Naomi was just calling the boat when Alice was hit with sudden dizziness. Jack already noticed that something was wrong by the sudden change on her face, but unfortunately before any of them managed to even open their mouth, there was a knife sticking out from Naomi's back and the phone flew away from her hand, her body following when crashing to the ground. An even bigger shock was that the man who was standing behind this brutal murder was John Locke.
"What have you done?!" Jack screamed, his anger coming back.
"We can't contact those people, Jack. They're not here to save us and we'll be better off," the older man just said.
"Not here to save us?!" Jack screamed. "Locke, do you really want to spend your whole life here?!"
"And what do you have out there that's so urgent to come back to, Jack?" Locke retorted.
Jack wouldn't even bother answering. It was no one's business and especially not John Locke's.
"Is it the hospital? Do you so desperately need someone else to fix?"
"He's right! We can't make the call!" Ben joined, but Rousseau quickly took care of him by knocking him out. And all of that in front of her biological daughter, Alice thought, but didn't waste time to ponder over that issue.
"And you, Alice," suddenly John tuned to her, "if you leave, you won't be able to practice your ability."
"That's totally fine with me," she answered him when folding her arms on her chest.
"Don't talk to her!" Jack yelled and picked up the phone.
"Jack, I can't let you make that call," Locke warned him and then pointed his gun at the doctor.
Alice screamed Jack's name, not really knowing what to do. Was Locke bluffing? Was he really going to kill him?
"John, please, we're not your enemies," Alice tried to speak to John's reason whereas everyone else was just standing still, terrified. There was a new born baby among them, a fresh mother and a pregnant woman, Alice thought. And if only Locke missed… What happened to him? She wondered. He seemed changed somehow.
"I'll shoot, I swear," John ignored Alice and was only talking to Jack now. "I will. Drop the phone."
"You're not going to shoot me, John and we both know it," Jack just said as though he wasn't worried at all. To Alice's astonishment, his hand didn't even waver.
"Jack," she warned him, not ready to risk it.
"What do you feel?" he just asked her.
"What?" she frowned.
"Do you sense anything?" he rephrased and she finally realized what he meant.
"No," she said with confidence that surprised her. She really didn't.
"Good." Jack nodded and made the call.
Alice waited a few torturously long seconds and then finally, John lowered the gun.
"You're going to regret this, Jack," Locke warned them one last time before he disappeared in the jungle.
The next thing they knew, the time seemed to stop flowing altogether when somebody on the other side actually answered the phone and Jack started talking to him, soon following with, "My name is Jack Shephard. Are you on a boat? On a freighter?"
"How did you get this channel?" the man on the other side wanted to know.
"Naomi."
"Who are you again?"
"I'm one of the survivors of flight Oceanic 815. Can you get our location?"
"Hell, yeah, we can! Sit tight!"
The call was ended and the air still seemed to be electrified by everyone's excitement and disbelief. Alice met Jack's eyes and they were so happy and so relieved. He finally managed to do what he'd wanted to ever since their first day on the island – get everyone home. Alice just jumped to him, cupped his face and kissed him deeply. She needed to share her happiness with him. She just needed to touch him and to make sure it was all happening for real.
Their job was done and it was safe to come back to the beach, so they didn't waste any time. They ventured off into the jungle right away. Besides, there were three women among them who desperately wanted to be reunited with their men.
"He was right about you, didn't he?" Jack asked Alice.
"About those…" she hesitated, "premonitions? Yeah, I'm afraid he was."
"It's all right," Jack comforted her when taking her hand. "It doesn't change anything. You're still the same woman I fell in love with."
She smiled to him, although that smile didn't exactly reach her eyes. "I'm just afraid, you know," she confessed. "Sometimes I'm just afraid of myself and of what I can do. It wasn't so intense a few weeks ago and it feels like whatever those powers are, they're growing."
"So it's a good thing that we're getting the hell out of this island," Jack said. "If we believe Locke again. If we believe that this ability will fade once we get out."
"Yeah," she agreed and then she came to a stop, because the man in question was waiting for them.
Alice couldn't even react fast enough when Jack reached to the guy and tackled him to the ground.
"Jack!" she just yelled his name and then lost the ability to breathe for a moment when he pointed a gun at John.
"Why d'you come back?!" Jack asked. "Why?!"
"We can't trust those people! They're coming, but we can still hide! I have a plan," John tried to convince him.
Jack just nodded and got up, looking aside before he shifted his eyes back to Locke. He pulled a gun and aimed.
"You're not going to shoot me, Jack," John said with confidence and Alice thought that was exactly his mistake. "You won't shoot me just like I couldn't shoot you."
They all heard the empty click of the trigger Jack just pulled. What saved Locke was that he was out of bullets. Alice was kind of shocked and she could tell that Locke was, too. No one anticipated this and she could only be glad that the gun was empty. She wasn't sure Jack would be all right if he killed John. Now he was furious with the man, but later on Alice knew he would regret it. He would regret taking a life of an unarmed man while being the one who was supposed to be saving lives.
"Are you finished?" Locke asked calmly when getting up and turning to the rest. He sold them a speech of how they really should go with him and how the people who were coming couldn't be trusted because the island, through Walt, told him that.
Alice still couldn't get over the shock that Jack tried to kill someone and now she felt like she was listening to a madman talking. Walt? Walt was probably safe back home. She kind of started wondering what he and his father thought of their plane apparently found at the bottom of the ocean, though.
The next thing they knew, people started dividing. Hugo said that Charlie had died trying to get them all saved, but then something changed his mind and the last thing he did was to warn them that those people couldn't be trusted. Alice got that, she really did, but she also knew that getting out of the island was the only way for her and Jack to ever be truly happy and fulfilled with their lives. That was why she refused to go with Locke. The second reason was exactly what Rose told Bernard when he suggested they'd go. Locke killed Naomi for nothing. He couldn't be sure whether she was a threat since he never met her. That thought also kind of calmed Alice's fears about Jack pulling the trigger. With the right incentive, every one of them was capable of murder. Sawyer had done it and Kate, too. And Kate was actually a good person and proved it to the rest countless times. The brunette had actually come back with Sawyer to the other's camp to save both Alice and Jack and she didn't have to do it. Added to that, Jack had really thought three of his people were dead and then he'd witnessed Naomi's death, too. A death that had no sense whatsoever. That was why Alice decided not to judge and to just let it go even if it was still nagging at her. She understood that James could've lost control when the real Sawyer tore his letter apart, but Jack… No, she would just have to let it go and never think about it again or else she'd go crazy and destroy what she and Jack had worked so hard to built between them.
Her thoughts were interrupted anyway when she saw Sawyer coming over to Locke's side and Kate following.
"James?" Alice asked in surprise. "Kate?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm with the Rambo here," Sawyer said. "I really hope you'll get everything you want from life, sweetheart." There was just something in his eyes. Something nameless that she couldn't quite understand. Why would he do this? She kept questioning his behavior. Was it for Kate who was wanted back in America and her return would probably land her in prison for life? Was Sawyer any different when murdering that guy back in Australia? Alice wondered why murder, death and suffering kept on surrounding them. Why couldn't they just let it all go and live in peace? Well, apparently it was a foolish wish. The world they were living in simply was that way and the island was apparently no exception to that rule.
"I hope you'll get everything you want from life, too," she finally said in a muffled voice and went over to Sawyer to give him a hug. "I'll miss you, James," she whispered into his ear, her lips nearly touching the skin there. She didn't want to let him go, she realized when her hold on him tightened and he didn't seem to either. Only she had to. He was entitled to his own choice just like she was and she couldn't live in this place any longer.
"I'll miss you, too, sweetheart," he whispered and she felt him placing a soft kiss to her cheek. She pulled away, avoiding looking into his eyes so this wouldn't be even harder and then she hugged Kate.
Once Locke left with his group, Alice just felt empty.
"Let's go," Jack said in a strange tone when placing his hand on her shoulder from behind and she just nodded, swallowing tears and covering his hands with hers. She so didn't have the mind to ask him what was wrong.
"Let's go," she agreed, lacking enthusiasm.
The group that stayed with Jack, came back to the beach, but he and Alice decided to linger a little bit, waiting for the other team to come by the cockpit of their crashed plane.
"Are you cold?" Jack asked, automatically putting his arm around her to warm her up since she was shaking.
"I'll be fine," she said, but was soon betrayed by a sneeze. Jack only smiled to her and rubbed her arms a bit.
"We can go back to the beach. After all, we don't want you to get sick."
"Yeah, sure, I seem to have the worst luck when it comes to my health on this island, so why not getting a cold?" she asked sarcastically. There was some truth to what she said. She still wondered why Sun had gotten pregnant by her previously infertile husband and she hadn't by Jack.
He was already opening his mouth to ask for an explanation when they heard something and stilled.
"It's a helicopter!" Alice exclaimed and then they both saw the flash of light in the night sky, indicating that someone must've jumped with a parachute.
Indeed, they soon found the man who was just untangling himself from all the ties and lines.
"Are you Jack?" he asked once he saw them and they both exchanged looks. "I'm Daniel Faraday. I believe I'm here to rescue you," he followed and was finally able to shake their hands.
Maybe they would be home soon, Alice thought.
After only a few minutes spent in the company of Faraday, both Jack and Alice were skeptical about the man and the intentions of the team that came down with him. According to him, there were other people out there, scattered in the jungle because of the chopper that went down. Jack noticed the gun in the back of Daniel's pants and then the physicist – since that was his occupation – kept avoiding all the important answers, pretending that he was focused on finding his friends and couldn't say anything at the moment. Alice and Jack both pushed until he admitted that saving them wasn't their primary subjective, whatever he meant by that.
As they followed Faraday into the jungle, tracking some guy named Miles via GPS, Jack looked at Alice questioningly and she realized what he wanted to know. She shook her head. No, she didn't feel any weird vibrations, so they appeared to be safe for now.
Until they found Miles and he immediately pointed a gun at them, that was.
"Hey! Hey! Miles! They're cool!" Faraday called out to him.
"They killed Naomi! She's dead, man!"
"Whoa! We didn't kill anyone!" Jack tried to convince the man with his hands raised high up in the air.
"He's not going to shoot us, Jack," Alice told him, pretty sure of that and Miles shifted his eyes to her.
"How can you know?" he asked.
"We didn't kill her so you have no reason to kill us," Alice just said calmly.
"All I know is that she's dead and you're the only people who could've done it!"
"All right, all right," Jack gave up. "She is dead, I admit, but neither I, nor my girlfriend here killed her. It was a man named John Locke. He is not with us and I am truly sorry for what happened. We never wanted to hurt anyone."
"Then take me to her," Miles demanded.
"What?" Jack didn't seem to get him. "She's dead. She can't tell you anything."
"I know she's dead. Take me to her and I'll find out who killed her."
Alice and Jack exchanged looks, not understanding a thing, but in the end they had no choice but do what Miles asked them to.
Getting back home wouldn't be as easy as Alice thought, after all.
Miles clearly had a gift, Alice realized when after taking a look at Naomi's body, he assured Faraday that they were right - they didn't kill the woman.
Alice was already opening her mouth, wanting to ask the man how he knew that and if he had a certain gift himself, but Jack stopped her just in time, shaking his head. She didn't know why he did that, but then they heard a gunshot and she had other things on her mind.
Luckily for them, Sayid and Juliet came out of the jungle. They kept an eye on both the strangers, but it only caused their relations to grow even more strained because of the gun Sayid was still holding. Alice knew they were trying to protect themselves and not kill anyone else, but still, conflict complicated things a lot.
"Why did you stop me back then?" she asked Jack when they kept on following the GPS signal. "I just wanted to ask him how he knew."
"I know and that's why I did what I did. Alice, you can't trust those people," he warned her. "Not after everything that happened ever since they arrived here. And you need to be careful what you say in front of them, too. This thing… we don't know why you have those feelings, we don't know what they mean and how it happened. We can't entirely trust Locke with them either. Let's just wait and see, ok?"
"Ok," she agreed, biting on her lip and realizing that Jack was actually afraid that she would be used or explored once her secret came out.
Daniel noticed them talking privately and came closer, not to listen but to chat some more with them. He definitely seemed nicer and more talkative than Miles who didn't even want to divulge his last name. Jack thought he could use that feature of Daniel to his advantage.
"So, how long have you two been together?" Faraday just asked idly, but Jack looked at him with warning in his eyes. "What? It's so obvious! And I'm just trying to carry a conversation here!"
"Just shut up, man!" Miles told him once again, clearly tired of scolding him.
At that moment, Vincent came running towards them, carrying Charlotte's GPS collar on his neck – at least Daniel and Miles thought it belonged to their woman friend.
"Damn it," Sayid cursed and Jack only nodded.
"Locke must've gotten to her," the doctor agreed.
"The guy who shot Naomi?!" Faraday got angry. "We have to save her! We need to save Charlotte!"
"Calm down, man!" Miles told him. "She's prepared for anything and she's prepared much better than Naomi was. We need to find Frank now."
"Frank, the pilot?" Alice made sure, but met with no answer until they actually came across the guy. He was much older than the rest of his team, but seemed to be all right, if a little disoriented.
"So, where did you crash the helicopter?" Daniel asked and Frank looked at him as though the younger man deeply insulted him.
"What kind of a pilot do you think I am?! I didn't crash it! I landed it! It's right there in the valley!"
Jack and Alice nearly couldn't believe their luck as they ran over there, followed by Sayid, Juliet and the rest.
Frank was right, the helicopter was there and it seemed to be intact.
"It requires minor mechanical work, but besides that, we're all good to go. We don't have much fuel left, but we should be fine if we don't carry much load," Frank informed proudly.
While Sayid was looking at the damage, Juliet took care of the cut above Frank's eye and soon enough he figured out that she hadn't been a passenger on the Oceanic 815.
"You're native!" he exclaimed. "I'm telling you! I know the passenger list back and forth and there wasn't any Juliet Burke on it!"
"Hey, easy there," Jack immediately walked over to them. "She's all right. You have nothing to be afraid of."
"So, she is a native?" Frank made sure.
"She is?!" Miles came closer. "You wanna know why we're here?!" he finally turned to Jack, ready to answer the question both he and Alice had been asking for the last ten minutes, but to no avail. "We're here for Benjamin Linus! Now, where is he?!" he turned back to Juliet, expecting an answer.
Ok, Alice thought, she did not see that one coming. Then again, it made sense. At least now they knew why Ben was so desperate to keep those people from coming to the island. They weren't a threat to the survivors of 815, they were a threat to him! And quite frankly, she couldn't care less after everything that man had done to her and all her friends.
AN: Now, here's when you make a choice. The first version of this story ended with Jalice and the second is Sawyer/Alice. If you like to see her end up with James or are simply curious, read on. If not, then jump to chapter 27.