Disclaimer: I make no profit from this. Ben and all of the other Lost characters do not belong to me. Izzi, however, is mine.
A/N-This is set in season 3 as the Others leave the Hydra to go back to their "home". Some things from the TV show may stay the same, some may not.
Epilogue
Alex knelt down in front of the headstone. She came here, to the cemetery, every year. She had come every year on the same day for the last five years.
She sighed as she read the names in front of her.
Benjamin and Izelle Linus. "Together forever"
Even in death. Alex thought to herself. She ran her fingertips over the lone date carved into the smooth marble. They had died on the same day.
Silent tears began to fall just like they always did when she came here. She never cried for them except when she was here. When she was gone she could ban the memories, keep them locked away. But when she was so close to them, they all came flooding back.
Remarkably, after they had left the island on the boat they had found a port. Alex didn't remember much after that. She was too stunned by the sheer number of people walking around them. Those people didn't have a care in the world. They didn't know what they had been through in the past days. They couldn't even imagine.
Alex knew that Ben had led her onto a plane and sat her next to Izzi. Izzi, sensing Alex's apprehension about flying, held her hand the entire flight. Alex asked how they were even able to get onto a flight without any documents telling who they were. Her dad just rested his hand on the bag Isabel had given them and said it was taken care of. Alex learned later that Isabel had indeed thought of everything. She had provided them with passports, driver's licenses, money, and even her dad and Izzi's marriage certificate.
They had gone to Texas. It was where Izzi was from and where Ben and Izzi had decided to live. Izzi's family had been shocked when she showed up after four years with a husband and step-daughter but within days they were welcomed into the family and never questioned again.
The three moved into a house not far from Izzi's grandparents. All of this happened so quickly that Alex was barely able to process it all. Soon she started high school and began a normal life. The days passed in a blur.
Ben, Izzi, and Alex became a normal, everyday family. It was quite a change from running around the jungle and risking their lives constantly but they took to it well.
Izzi took a job as the head librarian for the local university. Izzi confided once to Alex that every time she walked into that new library she felt the urge to burst into tears because it reminded her of what happened to her library on the island.
"That's so silly isn't it?" Izzi would ask Alex. Alex always told her it wasn't.
At first her dad hadn't know what to do with himself sitting alone in the house all day. He was used to running an island, to being a leader, and here he didn't have that. He didn't have any crises to solve or hostiles to fight. He'd read every book in the house at least twice when Izzi suggested he get a job.
"A job?" he'd asked, like it was something he had never heard of. By then Alex was about to graduate high school and had been wondering herself if he would ever get one.
"Yes, a job Ben. Honestly, you're driving me crazy here! You must call me at work ten times a day to just talk. You're bored; you need to find something to occupy yourself." Izzi had said firmly.
Ben hadn't wasted any time. The next day he told everyone that he had accepted a position as a professor, teaching graduate courses in Psychology. He was more then qualified to do it, seeing as he had nearly as many degrees as Izzi.
When Izzi asked him which college he would be teaching at he had smiled widely. "Yours" he answered.
Alex had been laughing as she walked out of the room. They never could stay away from each other for long.
Four more years had passed when Alex had returned home. She had just graduated college with a degree in Sign Language. She planned to be an interpreter.
She was having dinner with her parents when they told her they had some news.
Then, six years after they had left the island, her dad and Izzi told her that they were going to have a baby.
Daven was born seven and a half months later.
When Ben held up their little son to Izzi in the delivery room she had burst into tears and through those tears she had repeated, "Desmond was right."
In total, her father and Izzi had given Alex four brother and sisters. Daven was the first, and then two years later came Isabel. Three years after Isabel they welcomed another little girl, Marit. Then, a surprise to all, especially Ben who thought he was getting too old for more children, six years after Marit, Jonah was born.
Izzi couldn't have been happier having a house full of children. Alex could tell Ben loved them as well. His eyes shown whenever he looked at his kids.
At 27, Alex was married to a wonderful man and soon after had a child of her own. She and her husband, Noah, who thankfully didn't push her to reveal her past, moved into a house next door to her dad and Izzi. Alex knew she would never want to be far from them. They had been through too much together.
You could say they lived happily ever after, even though it was terribly cliché. Alex and Noah raised their children right along Ben and Izzi. Before they knew it Daven was married and giving Ben and Izzi more grandchildren.
Izzi and Ben watched their children grew up with amazing contentment. Alex thought it was amusing that even though they had left the island they had refused to stop their bickering towards each other. Only now instead of fighting over Ben running around the jungle risking his life, they fought about how Ben forgot to pick up milk on the way home. In her talks with her father, Alex knew that Ben thought he would never get an opportunity to have more children being on the island. She asked him once if he missed it and he had gotten a far off look in his eyes. "Every day." He'd whispered.
For 39 long years they led a happy and full life.
Alex was becoming an old woman herself when she received a call from Izzi that would change everything.
It had come out of nowhere, Ben was sick and there was nothing that the doctors could do to help him. He wasn't in pain, but he was dying.
Izzi didn't leave her husbands side for the week he was in the hospital. Then after a long talk with Ben she had insisted she take him home. The doctors had protested but she didn't hear any of it.
Izzi asked, no, demanded that the family gather at Ben's side. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she knew that he was near the end. Alex knew it as well and knew how much it would mean to her father to get to see his children and grandchildren for the last time.
So they had gathered, all of them. And one by one, each went to Ben's side to say goodbye.
Ben had tears in his eyes as he looked out over his family, his legacy, gathered in the large room. Alex would never forget her father sitting there; ever proud, struggling to hold himself up. He was 90 years old, everyone knew that he would have to pass eventually, but it was still heartbreaking to witness.
Alex showed everyone into the living room where they would begin the waiting game. Izzi came in and one by one hugged and kissed every last man, woman, and child in the room. Tears were never gone from her face as she thanked everyone for coming. Then she went back upstairs to Ben.
They didn't have to wait long.
Alex had gone upstairs to check on Ben and Izzi and when she opened to door her breathe caught. Ben was lying on his back on the bed with a sheet pulled up to his chest. From the door Alex could tell that he wasn't breathing.
Her father was dead.
But that wasn't what made Alex fall to her knees and begin to cry hopelessly. She had been prepared for Ben's death, but she wasn't prepared for what she saw.
Izzi lay at Ben's side, her head lay on his chest and her fingers entwined with his. Ben's other arm was wrapped tightly around Izzi's shoulder holding her close to him.
When Jonah had come to find her Alex was still on the floor. She couldn't bring herself to stand up and confirm what she already knew to be true. She didn't have to, Jonah did it for her. When he slipped two fingers under their mother's neck and bowed his head Alex knew that Izzi was dead as well.
Izzi had died naturally, without any aide, only moments after Ben. Alex should have known they would be unable to be apart, even if one of them died.
Ben and Izzi were buried in the same position they died in. Alex knew she was doing to right thing keeping them together. She knew more than anyone how deep their love for one another had run and couldn't see them separated.
That had been five years ago. Alex sighed and placed the letter she had brought with her on top of the grave.
"Hi dad, hi Izzi. I know how much you always loved to read so I brought you something you will both enjoy. In this letter I have written your lives. From the beginning when both of your were born until the end when you couldn't be separated. I wrote everything I could remember, even about the island. I've kept a copy myself and when it is time for me to go I will pass it on to Emily. Your family deserves to know where they came from. They should know that they were part of something amazing. And that is what the two of you were, amazing. The story of your devotion to one another will be told forever, as it should be. Dad, thank you for saving me, I know I didn't tell you enough, but I should have. And Izzi, you were the best mother anyone could have had. Thank you for fighting so hard to keep us all together. I still miss you both so much."
Alex couldn't finish. She took a deep breath. She kissed her finger tips and touched them lightly to her father and mother's names. Wiping tears from her eyes she stood and with one last look turned and walked away.
The End.
