Chapter 29 - Tears of Reunion
It seemed years ago, the last time Alex stood there looking back at her. Passing her eyes over her beloved sister, she could not have imagined the massive void her amnesia had left by keeping the memories of Alex from her.
Face twitching with emotion, Alex nodded answering the obvious question
"Alex? "
They each stepped forward until they were close enough to throw their arms around each other and cry tears of reunion. This was her little sister. It was mere details that they didn't share the same father or mother, they were sisters regardless. And Sarah had missed her tremendously.
Alex's eyes soon took a more serious, unnerved expression after pulling back, making Sarah acutely uncomfortable. It hinted the same expression that draped over Tom (the guy Ben had tasered) and Danny (often known as Pickett.)All three gawped as if Sarah were an apparition. This threw her. First Tom, then Danny, and now Alex all looked at her with such oddness.
Drawing her face in bafflement, she questioned her sister. "What is it Alex? Why does everyone look at me like that? "
She shrugged, shaking her head inquisitively. "I don't get it. "
Alex appeared to avoid her prodding, taking on a decisive look, and grabbing Sarah's hand. "Look, no ones watching right now. Dad's in a meeting and everyone else is out getting together the group to go on the sub. "
Sarah paused, gazing at Alex and pondering. They had done this before, under different circumstances - Sarah barely knew where she was the first time. This time although she might not know the exact location in comparison to like say, the crash site or the beach, she was very much aware. She cocked her head in concern and responded.
"Okay, but what if he comes back? "
Alex shifted her eyes and responded. "Well, he still won't see anything - in here that is. Nothing to make him think anything's wrong. "
Sarah popped her head backwards slightly while frowning. "What'd you do? Rig the camera? "
Alex lifted her eyebrows and Sarah shook her head. "And when did you learn how to do that? "
"Don't worry about it. "
She let Alex drag her into the corridor thinking of the little girl who once stood in her place. Pony tails and giggles. Maybe Ben did have a weakness; otherwise, wouldn't he have anticipated their comradeship? Or perhaps he overlooked the independent streak common between both of them. Sarah looked at Alex and sighed with a near motherly question.
"Alex, have you been alright? "
Alex glanced back, the corners of her mouth turned up. "Yea. Yea, I'm fine. "
She said so with her words, her tone betrayed her. Things were not going well at all. Sarah was disheartened with the unspoken, feeling a prickle of guilt. Could she really leave her behind a second time?
They crept along like two mice scurrying hurriedly, bouncing into crevices at the slightest noise. There was a wall with a large door at the end of the passageway. It was reminiscent of the hatch door in the Swan hatch. Sarah's eyes wandered to the left wall, and noticed another smaller door. "Is that where …? "
Alex nodded. "Yeah, that's where he watches "
Sarah shivered; reminded of the day she had stumbled into the Pearl and found all those cameras. She had even called Jude a pervert for spying. Could she say less for Ben? She supposed the more accurate question would be how much more for Ben?
A rusty ladder scaled the wall behind the large door at the end of the passageway. Sarah paused, staring up to the top. Alex turned and prodded her in quiet tones. "Come on. This'll take us up top … remember? "
Alex pressed her further. " Are you coming … Or what? "
Sarah hesitated. Her body aching with a residual soreness hours after the taser adventures, she stared up, trying to process what had happened there in the hatch, under the ocean. The time Ben spent trying to convince her that none of these people whom she had come to care for ( Or at the least, her time spent with them ) were even real was wasted when he had inadvertently defeated his own purpose -whatever that was - letting her see and talk with Jack. She knew then that Jack had, in fact, traveled across the island with his group and Danny confirmed that Sayid had followed by sailboat.
She murmured out loud while thinking. "… There's a boat. I heard him say that there's a boat. I mean, Danny said there was an Iraqi with a boat. "
Alex frowned, releasing a long frustrated sigh and nodded. " Jack's friends. Looks like they went by boat, while Jack went by foot. Ryan saw them docking at the Pala Ferry Landing and start a fire - Sayid and the two Koreans. That's why they're taking the sub, to sneak over there and take the boat. So they won't find this island. "
Alex grabbed her shoulders. " Are you alright? "
Sarah nearly reeled backwards, overwhelmed by a feeling much like a blow to the stomach, while the room began a slow spin. She straightened herself, studying her sister with suspicion. Alex had always been the one in whom she knew she could trust when there was no one else. Surely, she wouldn't turn that easily - unless Ben had found something worth holding over her head. After all, who did he think helped her the first time she escaped?
"Hurry, you've got to hurry. " Alex urged as they ran through the tunnel and began their ascent up the ladder into the daylight. When they reached the top, Sarah could walk no more. She turned her face to the sky and the sun warmed from her cheeks and nose, to her eyelashes. She drew in a long breath of fresh, coconut-scented air and dissolved in the sheer joy of it.
Alex lay a gentle touch on her shoulder. Sarah turned and wrapped her arms around her. They stood in the sunlight and cried together. She would abandon Alex, leaving her there alone, among them, while she ran free to find the life she yearned for. Sarah pulled away from her and locked eyes with her.
"Alex … will you be okay? "
She nodded and smiled under a tear-streaked face. "Yeah. But you won't be if you don't go. "
Sarah stared up the ladder and felt a twinge of déjà vu. A slow scowl shadowed her as Sarah glared. "Alex, where are you taking me? Where are we going? "
Alex scanned her face, but Sarah ignored her as she demanded. " Alex, tell me. Tell me what's going on? Are they making you do this? Is this some kind of game? Tell me! "
It wasn't until she heard the distress in Alex's voice that she realized she had grabbed her shoulders and was digging into her skin with her fingers, nearly shaking her into the wall.
" Sarah, " Alex stammered. " I'm trying to help you! "
She loosened her grip, pained by the meekness in Alex's face, a simple honesty that she couldn't deny. She heard it in her voice and it filled her with such a rush of emotion, she felt lightheaded. She backed away, brows turned downward, gaping at her little sister. Her eyes flicked over Alex in disbelief. Alex was always the one she could count on the speak truthfully - there was no arguing that point. Alex didn't have the art of lying within her, not even dormantly.
"I … I'm sorry Alex. " She whimpered. "I'm so sorry. "
She turned, her hands pointlessly sliding over her face. She took slow circular steps, thoughts washing over her like angry white crested waves crashing onto the rocks and recounted.
"I … I was in Australia. "
"Yeah. " Alex confirmed. "You were. "
"And I was on the plane. And the plane Crashed. "
Alex sighed. " Yes. "
She flipped around. " But when they found me out there. Ben and the others. You mean, I've been here since then? The entire time? "
Alex studied her. " Sarah, you were hurt. It was more than two months ago. They brought you back here. Everyone thought you were dead … for two months! No one knew except for Dad and Juliet. Not even Isabel. She still doesn't know because Dad's threatened everyone who knows so far. But everyone will soon and when they do … "
Sarah cocked her head waiting, but Alex let the thought hang as she insisted.
"Look, you've just got to get out of here. "
Sarah's head turned back to the passageways, nodding. Her thoughts raced, was she falling? It felt like she was falling. How could a dream be so vivid that you could mistake it for reality? She ate with them, slept with them. She laughed and cried among them. But she was never there? She just could not wrap her mind around it … Yet, as quickly as her head reeled, it became sharply straight when she realized the present dilemma.
If this were all true, somehow, then somewhere out there, Sayid and Jin would be setting up an ambush not knowing that the others were privy to it and had an ambush planned of their own. One that would take a deadly turn. She thought of Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Would this mean she would be abandoning them as well? She was torn. What if Alex was compromised and this was all a part of some big scheme to test her or use her for some purpose? Would she be endangering someone else by her decisions, by her actions?
She pumped Alex for more details. "Have you seen anyone else? From Jacks group? There were two men, and a woman. Have you seen them? "
Alex tapped a foot on the floor, while resting her weight on one hip. She was clearly agitated now, but Sarah ignored her, determined to get answers. Alex rolled her eyes and sighed. "They're outside, in the bear cages. They've been workin; movin rocks … stuff like that. They're a little roughed up, but they're fine for now. Though I don't know what's gonna happen if Sawyer keeps pushin their buttons. "
Sarah's mouth formed a "wha …" but the word didn't make it out as Alex continued.
"And they have plans for Jack. They're not gonna hurt him. Oh, and the big guy - Hurley - they sent him back to the beach to warn the rest of them not to come back. "
Sarah wrenched her head between the ladder and then through the opposite end of the corridor, her face stiffened with a determined resolve…she was going to find a way on that sub. She flashed a glance to Alex. "I can't go up that way. "
"Alex, I've got to get on that sub. And either you're gonna help me, or I'm gonna find a way on my own. But either way... I am gonna get on that sub!
Alex knew that once she made her mind up; there wasn't any talking Sarah out of much of anything. If there were, Alex could never do it. She blew out air from her bottom lip, shook her head and then made her way down through the corridor with Sarah slinking behind her.
"You know, " Alex said. " It really would have been easier to go up top. I could've shown you which way to go and you could a gotten there ahead of them maybe even. I have a boat. "
Quietly, they slid past doors and around corners, watching for shadows and listening for voices or footsteps. It seemed the hatch was unusually inactive. Yet, Alex warned her that they would need to be quick if they didn't want to be caught.
Sarah answered under her breath. "You're not gonna understand this Alex, but Sun, one of the people with Sayid, is gonna be on that boat. Inside of it … and she's gonna get hurt. She's gonna get shot. "
"If I can get on that sub, and if I can get on the boat, then maybe I can warn her or stop her before it happens. I dunno. It's the best I've got right now. I can't risk going on a boat alone out there and getting lost or not getting there when I need to. "
Alex turned her head with the tiniest smile. " Well, I believed you about the boy, and about the whispers. Didn't I? Look, you know stuff. I don't know how, but I stopped asking already. "
The round metal door that led to the submarine was unguarded. No one was standing outside of it, and no one was around it. Alex suggested she, alone, should investigate first to see if anyone were inside.
She approached it cautiously, sliding her hand around the circular handle and turning it clockwise until there was a click. She pulled on it and the door opened without much effort. She disappeared.
Sarah held her breath, listening to the sound of her own heart thumping - eyes glued to the door. She couldn't be caught now. She closed her eyes and swallowed. She was dazed, trying to digest this expanse of new info. What Ben, Juliet and even Alex told her seemed ridiculous …but she admitted that it did explain the odd looks and the undeniable lack of recognition in Jacks eyes. If he anything, he was not without compassion and she questioned how long he could have stood there watching Ben torture her and held to his story.
Either way, this seemed to be a reasonable action since the fact that she knew was certain, true or not, was that Colleen's group was going to ambush Sayid, and Sayid was none the wiser. If all of this talk were nonsense, then she would be reunited. If it were true, then he would take her, and he might even torture her again …but she would tell him everything she knew. And she hoped to warn him, sparing him the surprise attack.
And to be utterly honest, there was next to nothing that could keep her from wanting to be near him. That, alone, was enough reason.
"Oh Sayid. " She whispered to herself. "I hope I make it there. I just hope I make it. "
Her heart leapt at the sight of Alex reappearing from the entrance. She motioned for Sarah who stood up and scampered across the floor to meet her.
" It's as I thought. " Alex said. "They haven't gotten the team together, so no ones here yet. But that won't be for long. Here, I almost forgot. "
She held out her hand to reveal a small black box. " I don't have any guns or anything, but I snagged this. It worked the last time. "
Sarah stared at the Taser as a flood of memories crashed into her mind. She thought of Jude's body writhing on the ground. Of the way Sayid turned it around in his hands examining it. The way he had asked her if she still had it before they made their way out to the sailboat. She smiled and took it from Alex, turning it downward to slide it into her pocket. She heard a small tap, and felt it hit something else already there. She turned her brows downwards curiously.
"What's wrong? " Alex whispered.
Sarah didn't respond, but slid her tiny fingers down into the pocket and felt something round and hard. She grasped it between her index and middle fingers, and then pulled it up and out of her pocket. Gasping, her eyes took on a sad, but hopeful expression as she held the round hard plastic in front of her face, rolling it around between her fingers.
She smiled at Sayid, and then shoved it into her pocket. "For good luck. "
Threading her finger around the button hole of his shirt, she pulled him to her and he planted a long soft kiss on her mouth, laughing.
Alex turned her face up, puzzled. "What is that? "
Sarah smiled, staring at the object sentimentally, then, as she blinked back a tear, she answered softly.
"It's a button. "
