Here's the next chapter. Sorry for the wait. It's a Serj centric. Enjoy! I don't own Lost.

'God, I cannot believe I haven't had a decent conversation with you in seven years,' Ari said to Rachel. They were sitting in Ari's house with coffee, Owen, Gail and Chris playing on the other side of the room.

'I know,' Rachel said. 'It seems like a life time ago that we last saw each other.'

'Or you can say twenty-three years from now,' she pointed out as there was a knock on the door. 'Come in!' Ari yelled.

The door opened and Ivy and Payton walked in. 'Ari, they need you in the infirmary,' Payton said urgently.

'Why? What's happened? Is it big?'

'if you think that a bullet wound to a kids chest is big, then, yeah, it's big,' she said.

'Oh my God,' her eyes widened. 'Who's the kid?'

'Ben,' Ivy said.

'No. no way am I saving that psychopath's life.'

'He will survive either way, Ari. Whatever happened, happened.'

'I won't do it, Ivy.'

'Please can you do it?'

'When Hell freezes over – twice!' she exclaimed.

'Ari…'

'I won't do it, Ive. He's made me suffer way too much.'

'Fine,' she sighed. 'Some scientists and doctors are coming in tonight from Ann Arbor, apparently. Maybe they could save him.'

'I doubt it. Is Tam one of the doctors?' she asked, changing the subject.

'Yes!' she exclaimed happily. 'I can't wait. It's been almost three years. Okay, I gotta go. Thanks anyway, Ari.'

She walked out of the house with Payton.

'I swear, that girl appears everywhere I go,' Rachel groaned.

Ari smiled slightly. 'She's actually really nice. Give her a chance.'

--

'Jamal, please let us in!' young Sasha exclaimed.

'No, Sasha!' Jamal repeated to Sasha, Megan and Madison. 'This is not a sight for young girls.'

'Can anyone say sexist?' Hana asked from behind the three girls.

'Hana!' Megan exclaimed. 'Make him let us in!'

'You are not coming in, girls,' Layla called from inside the infirmary. 'Jamal! Get in here! Juliet and I need some extra hands. Hana! Keep the girls away.'

At that moment Mira ran into the infirmary. 'Is it true? Was he shot?' she asked. Her eyes fell on Ben. 'He'll be okay, right? Does he need blood? Coz I can give him blood.'

'Different blood types, Mira,' Layla said. 'But thanks for the offer.'

--

Seth walked over to where Missy was sitting on a bench, and he stood behind her.

'So… you love me,' he said. She turned her head and looked at him.

'I'm sorry, but I do,' she said.

'Why are you sorry?' he wondered.

'Because I know you love Abby still.'

'I'll always love Abby,' he said.

She stood up. 'And there it is,' she said before walking away.

'But I love you too,' he said, although she wasn't there anymore. He sighed and sat down.

--

'Have you checked out the Hostile's cell yet?' Horace asked Sawyer.

'I was a little busy trying to keep the town from burning down, Horace,' Sawyer said.

'Okay. Well, then let's do it.'

The two of them, plus Miles, Adira, Dan, Adrian, Evelyn, Phil and Jin walked in the cell and saw that there were keys in the door.

'He didn't break out. Somebody let him out,' Adrian said.

'These are janitor's keys,' Evelyn said.

'We've only got three janitors,' Horace said. 'There's Roger, Willie and that new guy. I just met him. His name's Jack.'

'Yeah. I just brought him in from the sub. I'll go talk to him. Miles, Adira, you wanna come with me?'

'Yeah, sure, boss.'

The three walked out and through the Barracks.

'All right, I want you to find Jack and Hurley and Kate and all those guys who came back with them as quick as you can. Put them in a house and sit on them. Find some other people to help, but people that won't make it look suss if they're missing.'

'What for?' Adira asked.

'Coz I don't want them talking to anybody else. Things are starting to spin out of control here.'

'All right, got it,' Miles said.

'All right, go.' Adira and Miles went off in one direction while Sawyer went to the infirmary. Roger, Hana, Mira, young Sasha, young Megan and young Madison were sitting outside it.

'Who did this? Do you know who did this to my son?' Roger asked.

'Not yet, but we're working on it. How's he doing?'

'I don't know. Juliet, Layla, Jamal, and that new girl, Rosalyn or whatever it is, told us to wait out here.'

'Let me see if I can get an update for you,' he said.

'Thanks, Jim.'

'Oh, do you happen to have your keys with you?' he added before walking in.

'Yeah. Why? What do you need?' he said, searching his pockets. He couldn't find them. 'I must've left them at...at the house.'

'It's all right. Don't you worry about it,' he said before going in the infirmary.

'More gauze,' Layla was saying.

'Here's some gauze,' Jamal said, holding it above Ben, waiting for Layla to tell him where to put it.

'Right here,' she said. He put it where she said to.

'If we can't stop the hemorrhaging, we're gonna have to pack the whole tract,' Rosie said.

'How is he doing?' Sawyer asked.

'Not well,' Juliet said. She turned back to the other three doctors. 'Just give me a second, okay?' they nodded and she walked closer to Sawyer, speaking in a low voice. 'He's still bleeding in there somewhere, and we can't fix it.'

'It's all right.'

'He needs a top surgeon,' Juliet said. 'And where is Arianna?' she added.

'Refusing to help. Top surgeon?' he asked. She nodded. He quickly ran out.

--

'You're telling us we're under house arrest?' Jack asked in disbelief.

'No, you're all free to leave whenever you want,' Dan said. 'But…'

'But…?' Sophie prompted.

But I'll be forced to shoot you in the leg,' he finished cheerfully.

'Nice,' Rachel said.

'And whose idea was this?' Jack asked.

'Who do you think?' Payton said.

'Sawyer's just doing his job, Jack,' Kate said.

'Like he's been doing for the past three years,' Adira said.

'Of course you of all people would be following orders,' Dinah muttered.

'If you have something to say to me, Dinah, say it so I can hear it,' she snapped.

Everyone looked between the mother and daughter.

'It just seems like that whenever someone gives you an order you follow it, no questions asked,' Dinah said. 'If you walked out there now and Sawyer told you to jump, you wouldn't ask why the Hell you were jumping, you'd say 'how high?''

'I didn't always follow orders.'

'Yeah, whatever.'

'I love the way you and your mother interact now,' Calypso said from beside her, clapping.

'Shut up,' Dinah muttered.

'Dude…' Hurley said. 'Did you just talk to her?'

Miles looked over curiously too.

'Possibly?' she said, leaving it as a question.

'What are you talking about?' Kate asked.

'Just to clear everything up,' Dinah said. 'I see dead people still. Just another plus of being a fucked up teenager.'

At that moment the door opened and Sawyer rushed in.

'Doc, I need you to come with me,' he said.

'Come with you where?' Jack asked.

'Juliet said the kid's losing blood, and we ain't got any to put back in him. So we need you to show us where he sprung a leak.'

'No.'

Everyone looked at him in shock, like they didn't believe what he was saying.

'What?' Sawyer asked.

'No, I'm not coming with you.'

'If you don't come with me, Jack, that kid's gonna die.'

'Then he dies,' he said simply.

Everyone looked on in shock as Sawyer gave up and walked out.

'He's an innocent child, Jack,' Dinah said.

'No, he's not.'

'Remember in 2006, when I was shot in the chest?' he nodded, knowing what she was about to say. 'I told you to give up as you tried to save me. You said you wouldn't, because I was an innocent child, apparently. Are you going to let this innocent child die?'

'You heard Miles. We can't change what's already happened. This has nothing to do with me,' Jack said.

'Unless you're the one who's supposed to save him,' Kate said.

'30 years from now, that boy's gonna be a man...that locks me in a cage because he needs surgery. And then you're gonna come in and you're gonna beg me to operate on him because he's threatening to murder Sawyer. I've already done this once. I've already saved Benjamin Linus, and I did it for you, Kate. I don't need to do it again.'

'This is our fault. We brought Sayid back. We caused this,' Kate said.

'You know, when we were here before, I spent all of my time trying to fix things. But...did you ever think that maybe the island just wants to fix things itself? And maybe I was just...getting in the way?'

'You know, I don't like the new you. I liked the old you, who wouldn't just sit around and wait for things to happen.'

'You didn't like the old me, Kate,' he said.

Dinah stood up and walked out of the house, Kate and Sophie quickly following her.

'Hey! Where are you going?' Miles yelled after them. They ignored him.

Payton turned to Adira. 'What are they doing?'

'You speak to me like I know how my daughter's mind works now,' Adira said.

--

Serj was walking past the infirmary when he heard his name being called out. Turning, he saw Hana.

'Yeah?' he said, walking over.

'Could you do me a favor?'

'Sure.'

'I have to get back to work, do you think you could take Sasha, Megan and Madison to the school and explain to the new teacher, Nazeli, I think it is, why they haven't been there?'

He bit his lip. He didn't want to go over there, because he didn't want to see his sister, but he knew he should. 'Sure,' he said.

'Thanks,' she smiled. She turned to the three young girls. 'Guys, go with Serj.'

They nodded and followed him to the school. He opened the door and went in.

'You're the new teacher, right?' he said, although he was perfectly aware that she was.

'Yes, I'm Nazeli. And you are…?'

'Serj.'

'I have a brother called Serj,' she said. 'And who are these three?' she gestured to the young girls.

'Madison Wade, Megan Weston and Lasesha Kansa. They've been at the infirmary.'

'Why?' she asked as the three girls took their seats.

'The boy who was shot is a good friend of theirs,' he explained.

'Oh. Thank you for bringing them over, Serj.'

'No problem,' he said, before walking out.

--

An eighteen year old Serj opened his eyes slowly to see he was back at his house in the Barracks. Damn. This attempt to leave didn't work either. He sat up and saw his parents there.

'I cannot believe you did this again, Serj,' his mother, Stella, said disapprovingly.

'Did it surprise you?' he asked coldly.

'You are an awful child for disobeying us. We told you not to try and leave, and yet you still did. You should be ashamed of yourself.'

'Well I'm not. You should be ashamed of yourself for keeping me here against my will.'

'Do not talk to your mother like that,' his father, Sven, said.

'I'll do what I want.'

'No you won't!'

'Watch me.'

He stood up and went for the door. Sven and Stella hurried and grabbed him, pulling him back.

'Let me go!' he exclaimed, struggling to get out of their grip. He wrenched his arm out of his mother's grip, and ripped his father's hand off his other arm. In this attempt his arm swung back and he elbowed his mother in the face. She got knocked back and hit her head on the table. Sven immediately dropped down beside her and Serj ran outside, making a break for it.

He wasn't going to stay there.

--

'Rosalyn?' Layla said. 'Three of the new people are here. They heard Ben needs blood. Apparently the three of them are universal donors,' she added. 'Would you mind helping to get the blood from them?'

'No problem,' Rosie said.

'I'll take the blood from one, you take it from the one of the others, and then whoever's done first does the third,' Juliet said to her. Sophie and Kate walked forward and sat down, Rosie and Juliet silently taking blood from them.

'So James told me that Jack wouldn't help, but he didn't say why,' Juliet said.

'If I understood why Jack does what he does, I sure as hell wouldn't be sitting here,' Kate said.

'Off island, did something happen with you two?'

'They were engaged. Does that count?' Dinah said.

'Subtle, Dinah,' Rosie said.

--

Later, while Layla, Jamal and Rosie were with Ben, Juliet walked into the house everyone was in.

'Jack,' she said. Everyone turned and looked at her.

'Don't waste your time, Juliet,' Ivy said, walking in behind her. She sat on the table. 'They won't do it.'

'And why do you think we won't do it, Ivory?' Ari asked.

'Because he apparently ruined your lives. Which, in my opinion, is overdramatic.'

'Stop arguing,' Sasha said. They looked at her in surprise.

'Usually you want something like this to turn into a knife fight,' Dragan said.

'This time I don't.'

'And why not?' Johnny asked.

'Because Payton is about to walk into the infirmary, and they will need Juliet and Ari over there, for whatever reason.'

'How the Hell do you know this?' Tori asked.

'A) I've done this all before. And b) I can see clearly through the window,' she said. They all looked out to see Payton walking into the infirmary.

'I don't like this,' Ari said, standing up.

'Never said you had to,' Juliet said, walking out.

--

'What's going on?' Roger asked frantically, seeing Ben gasp for air.

'Roger, get outside,' Jamal said.

'What's going on?' he repeated.

'He's going into hypoxic shock,' Rosie said.

'What does that mean?! What's the matter with him?!'

'He needs more oxygen,' Ari said, as she walked in with Juliet. 'Roger, get out of here!'

Payton pushed Roger out of the room.

--

'Let me get this straight,' Hurley said, sitting in the house. 'All this already happened.'

'Yes,' Anya said.

'So this conversation we're having right now...we already had it.'

'Yes!' Miles exclaimed.

'Then what am I gonna say next?'

'I don't know,' Miles sighed.

'Ha! Then your theory is wrong!'

'For the thousandth time, Hugo,' Adira said. 'The conversation already happened, but not for you and all of us. For you and us, it's happening right now.'

'Okay, answer me this. If all this already happened to me, then...why don't I remember any of it?'

'Sasha!' Miles said. 'Explain it to him.'

'Would you look at the time?' she said. 'I gotta go,' she stood up and turned to the others. 'Dragan, Evelyn, Adira, Adrian, Daniel, Johnathan, Ivory. Would you like to come?'

'Where?' Dan asked.

'Anywhere but here,' she smirked.

'I wanna see how this works out,' he said.

'Me too,' Johnny and Ivy said in unison, smirking.

'Suit yourself,' Evelyn said, following the others out.

'So…' Hurley said. 'Why don't we remember it?'

'Because once Ben turned that wheel, time isn't a straight line for us anymore,' Miles said. 'Our experiences in the past and the future occurred before these experiences right now.'

Hurley thought for a moment. 'Say that again.'

Miles sighed and pulled out his gun, passing it to Hurley. 'Shoot me. Please. Please!'

'It's not healthy to joke about death,' Gail said, matter-of-factly from next to Rachel. Miles turned and looked at her, giving her an exasperated look, but not saying anything. Tori, Dan, Ivy, Johnny, Rachel and Anya bit their lips to keep from laughing.

'Aha!' Hurley said. 'I can't shoot you. Because if you die in 1977, then you'll never come back to the island on the freighter 30 years from now.'

'I can die because I've already come to the island on the freighter. Any of us can die because this is our present,' Miles said.

'But you said Ben couldn't die because he still has to grow up and become the leader of the Others.'

'Because this is his past.'

'But when we first captured Ben, and Sayid, like, tortured him, then why wouldn't he remember getting shot by that same guy when he was a kid?'

They all looked at each other in wonder.

'Huh. I hadn't thought of that,' Miles said.

--

Roger, Kate, Sophie, Dinah and Payton sat on the steps outside the infirmary, waiting. Finally, Ari and Jamal came out.

'How is he?' Roger asked.

'He's stable,' Ari said.

'Is he gonna be okay?'

'He's got some fresh blood running through him, which is a good thing,' she nodded.

'Roger, I need you to come with me to the medical station,' Jamal said. 'There are some supplies there that we don't have here. I'd ask mum, but she's at the Flame, some kind of emergency.'

'Okay. Hey, I just wanna say, I-I... I wanna say thanks. I know that you're doing everything you can... to save him, and...' Roger trailed off. Jamal led him away to a Dharma jeep.

'Is he any better?' Payton asked.

'He's stable now. But we can't, um...we can't fix it,' Ari said.

'What about the sub?' Dinah asked. 'I mean, can we take him somewhere?'

'No. It's gone. It won't be back for a couple of months.'

'But he can't die, right?' Kate said.

'He is going to die. He is in a medical situation that is not resolvable,' Juliet said, walking out with Rosie.

'Okay, well, we can't just sit here and do nothing. I mean, there's got to be someone who can help him,' Sophie said.

'Maybe there's something they can do,' Payton said softly.

'They?' Kate asked.

'The Others,' Juliet, Ari and Payton said in unison.

--

'I don't think I can do this,' Sasha said, walking to Serj's makeshift house.

'You're the only one of us who will be able to get through to him,' Megan argued.

'Please, Sasha!' Madison exclaimed. 'I feel guilty about it as it is.'

'Fine,' she sighed. 'Serj?' she called. 'You home?'

'Come in, Sasha,' he said. The three all walked in.

Serj looked at them. 'Wow. All three of you. To what do I owe the pleasure?'

'It's…' Sasha began. 'Your sister. Nazeli.'

'What happened? What's wrong?' he asked.

'Nazeli joined us as well,' Sasha said.

'She became a Hostile?'

'Yes. She got into a relationship with one of the men from the Hostiles. She became pregnant.'

'Oh my God. Are you serious?' he asked in dread.

'Yes. I'm sorry. She didn't make it. She's dead.'

He looked at her in shock.

His sister was dead.

--

A woman ran through the jungle, making her way the Temple.

'What's the rush, Belinda?' a voice asked. She stopped dead in her tracks, hoping it wasn't a Dharma member. 'What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?'

She sighed and turned to the woman she hated. 'No, Vivien. I'm fine.'

'Where are you off to in such a hurry?' the British woman, Vivien, asked.

'To the Temple to talk to Eloise, Charles, Jacqui and Richard, if you must know. I'd offer to let you come, but I'm running, and you shouldn't be this late in your pregnancy. Sorry.'

'Oh, that's okay,' she said, but the tone of voice in which she said it in relayed the message that it was, in fact, not okay.

'You're having twins, right?' Belinda asked, feeling obligated to continue the conversation.

'Triplets,' she corrected.

'Oh, well, isn't that nice? Have you got names?'

'Yes.'

'What are they?'

'Ivory, Tamsyn and Nicole.'

'Nice names,' she said. 'There's two women in the Initiative called Ivory and Tamsyn. They're twins, I think.'

'What a weird coincidence,' a voice said, walking into the clearing with them.

'Eric,' Belinda smiled. He smiled back and Vivien rolled her eyes.

'Let's get to the Temple,' Vivien said. 'And you can talk to the leaders.'

--

Rosie and Ari wheeled Ben's gurney out of the infirmary, the others watching to make sure no one was coming. They all got Ben into the Dharma van waiting there.

'I'm coming with you,' Ari said.

'No,' Kate said. 'You have a son, and if we get caught…'

She sighed. 'Fine.'

'I'm sorry for shooting at you, three years ago,' Kate said.

'It's okay. Dinah, you can't go either.'

'Why not?' she asked.

'a) your mother would kill me. And b) if you guys are caught, you will be shot on the spot.'

'What?'

'They already thought you were a Hostile once before. And if they think it again they will shoot you. And most likely Adira.'

She nodded slowly.

'I'll go with you,' Sophie said. Kate nodded and the two got in.

'Sawyer's gonna find out Ben's gone, and when he does, I have to tell him what happened. But I'll give you as much of a head start as I can. Good luck,' Juliet said.

Kate and Sophie nodded and drove away.

--

'Figure out how you were gonna carry him out there with just you two?' Sawyer asked at the Sonar Fence. Four minutes before hand Dan and Sawyer had pulled up, deciding to help them.

'Well, the line's just right over there, right? The Others are on the other side,' Kate said.

'Well, they ain't right on the other side. We better get moving,' Sawyer said. He picked up Ben, the other three following him.

'Why are you doing this? Why are you helping us?' Sophie asked.

'When I found out Ben was gone, and Juliet told me what you were up to, I asked that exact damn question. Why are you helping Ben?' Sawyer said. 'And she said...no matter what he's gonna grow up to be, it's wrong to let a kid die. So...that's why I'm doing this. I'm doing it for her.'

--

Belinda, Eric and Vivien walked up to Richard, Charles, Eloise and Jacquilyn.

'Viv,' Jacquilyn said. 'You okay?' it was a fair enough question; she was almost eight months pregnant and hiking through the jungle.

She put her hand on her stomach and she smiled, nodding.

'We don't have any people called Sayid or Dinah, right?' Belinda interrupted, looking at Eloise.

'No, we don't,' she said. 'Why do you ask?'

'Apparently we do,' she said. 'According to them and the Dharma idiots.'

'Well reveal to them that those two aren't part of us.'

--

'You're still worried,' Johnny stated quietly to Ivy. She looked up in surprise, to see that he had taken a seat next to her on the couch. They were across the room from all the others. 'Don't you get it? You don't need to be.'

'I'm sorry, I can't help it,' she said.

'Have you always been this insecure?' he asked.

'No! I'm not insecure...yeah. Always have been,' she confessed.

He smiled and used his hands to take the chain from around his neck. He took the "D.A." initialed ring off, and passed it to her.

'What's this?' she asked.

'It's my Dead Aces ring,' he said. 'It's important to me. And I want you to have it.'

She smiled at him and hugged him, slipping it on her finger as she did so.

Across the room Ari and Rachel looked on, Ari's hand subconsciously going to the chain around her neck that had the "D.A." initialed ring on it, that had originally belonged to Brad.

The two of them shared a look and sighed in unison.

--

'Why'd you decide to do this?' Dan asked Sophie as they walked.

'It's wrong to let a child die,' she said. 'Any child.'

He nodded in understanding. 'Your motivation was your brother and our child.'

'Question or statement?'

'Question.'

'Yeah. They were my motivations to do this,' she said sadly. He took her hand as they continued to walk.

'You know, his father said that you think Ben broke Sayid out,' Kate said to Sawyer.

'Kid will do almost anything if he's pissed off enough at his folks,' Sawyer said.

'Is that why you asked me to take care of your oldest daughter?'

Sophie and Dan exchanged a look. 'You have another daughter?' Dan asked.

'Great job figuring that out by what she said, Danny Boy,' Sawyer said sarcastically. He turned to Kate. 'Did you?'

'Look after your daughter?' she asked. He nodded. 'Of course I did.'

'What's she like?'

'Clementine?'

'Yeah, Clementine.'

'Oh, she's beautiful. Looks just like you when she smiles. She's growing up fast. Already has a little attitude.'

'And while we're opening our hearts up,' Sawyer said. 'Red.'

'What?' Sophie said.

'What's Isabel like?'

'She's also very beautiful. Your eyes, she also looks like you when she smiles,' she smiled.

'I bet you lot and Cassidy had a lot to talk about.'

'I never met her,' Sophie said.

'She had an interesting theory on why you stayed behind to find Stacey and Claire,' Kate said.

'Yeah, what's that?' Sawyer said.

'She thought you were worried about what would happen if you didn't.'

'Face it Kate,' Dan said. 'You two never would have worked out.'

'Took the words out of my mouth,' Sawyer muttered. The four continued walking.

'I went and saw Demelza,' Sophie said to Dan.

'Yeah?'

'Yeah.'

'What'd she say?'

'She believed that you told me that. She started asking questions, and, because we had told everyone that you and a few others had survived the crash but died later, I told her you asked me to do that before dying.'

'Did she believe you?'

'She did – for a minute.'

'For a minute?'

'She had a friend of hers there. Kind of like a human lie detector. God, now that I think about it, kind of related to you.'

'How?'

'Claire's half-sister through her mother.'

'Ahh, yes. And Claire's my half-sister through our father. I see how I'm kind of related to this girl.'

'Anyway, so she was a human lie detector. Davina and Annalise immediately took her side. For three years I avoided them until I needed them to know the truth. The subject of you sacrificing leaving the island came up, and Davina asked why you'd do it for us. Dinah said because you love me and Corey said that I could've just said that and they would've stopped annoying me. Mel and Lynnie told me that some ghosts also believed that we all needed to get on that flight and Corey revealed they were telling the truth.'

'Hands up!' Eric said suddenly, jumping out of the jungle with three other Hostiles. 'Do not move. I said don't move. This is a violation of the truce. You're over the line.'

'We know,' Dan sighed. 'This kid's been shot. That's both of our problems. So unless you want to go to war, you're gonna take us to Richard Alpert, and you're gonna do it now.'

'He's right here,' Jacquilyn said, walking out with him.

'Hello there, James, Daniel,' Richard said.

'Where the hell did you come from?' Sawyer asked.

'You wanted to see me. Here I am. Is that Benjamin Linus?'

'You two know each other?' Sophie asked.

'What happened to him?'

'He was shot,' Kate said.

'And who might you two be?' Jacquilyn asked, looking at the two women.

'They're with us,' Dan said.

'And why are you here?' Richard asked.

'Coz we need you to save his life. Can you?' Sophie said.

'If I take him, he's never gonna be the same again.'

'What do you mean by that?' Kate asked.

'What I mean is that, he'll forget this ever happened, and that...his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us. You still want me to take him?'

'Yes.'

'Richard,' Eric said. 'You shouldn't do this without asking Ellie. And if Charles finds out-'

'Who's been here for a Hell of a lot longer than the rest of you?' Jacquilyn asked. 'Oh, right. Us two,' she said, gesturing to herself and Richard.

'Let him find out. I don't answer to either of them,' Richard added, walking off.

--

Ari knocked on the door of a house, waiting for the door to be opened. When it did she walked in with out asking.

'Where's Johnny?' she asked Ivy.

Ivy pointed down the hall, to the bedroom. Ari smiled in thanks and walked down there, opening the door and closing it behind her.

'Why are you doing this?' she asked, leaning against the door.

'Doing what, Ari?' Johnny asked, facing her.

'All of this.'

'There's this new thing called being specific.'

'You just keep hurting Rachel. And it's not really fair.'

'How am I hurting her?'

'You gave Ivy that ring. Why?'

'Because I love her, and I wanted her to have it.'

'But why did you do it in front of Rachel? She used to have that ring. And it killed her to see that you gave it to Ivy.'

'I wasn't thinking, Ari.'

'You're right. You weren't. Just stop hurting her. She's my best friend.'

He nodded as she left.

--

Serj ran through the jungle. A plane had crashed. And he had to check it out. It was too interesting not to. He ran until he got to the tail. He looked through the trees at the people. There were five Hispanic people talking to each other. Two of them adults, one of those two pregnant, a teenager, and the other two still only children. He continued looking around and saw a blonde girl painting her nails as a younger blonde sat next to her. He briefly wondered whether Ben would get the children taken. He probably would. Either way it didn't really bother him. And, now that he thought about it, the pregnant girl would be taken too.

'Has anyone seen a redhead called Sophie?' the voice of a man floated over to Serj.

'Probably dead,' nail polish girl said.

'Stom ta'peh,' a Middle Eastern girl said to her.

'Speak English, girl!'

'Lech lehizdayen,' the girl said.

'English!'

'Red li me'agav,' the girl said, walking away.

'Get back here girl, and speak English,' the blonde called after her.

Serj silently slipped back through the trees, knowing that an argument would happen.

He knew Ben and his people would come, and he knew that a few of those people would die trying to protect the children and the pregnant woman.

He didn't really care though.

--

Kit walked inside the Infirmary and sat down in a chair, looking at Juliet and Rosie.

Juliet looked over at him. 'Rosie, will you give us a minute?'

'Sure,' Rosie said, walking out. Juliet walked over to Kit and pulled a chair closer, sitting down.

'What's wrong?' she asked her brother.

'Do you ever get the feeling that this shouldn't have happened?' he asked.

'That what shouldn't have happened?' she asked.

'Them coming back. It's stuffed up a lot of stuff.'

'Like what?'

'You and Jim, because Jack and Kate. Ivy and Johnny, because of his ex-wife. Me and Skye.'

'Because of Dinah,' she said in understanding.

'They shouldn't have come back. Hell, we shouldn't even be here, Jules. I wish life was simple, back in 2000. You, Rachel, Cass and I against the world. Instead of us two against the past which we can't change.'

--

Here's the preview:

'You almost killed me, so excuse me for not trusting you.'

--

'She just slapped me for no reason!'

'Oh, sweetheart. I had a reason.'

--

'You've got nothing to worry about. It's not like he's going to die.'

--

'He's dead.'

--

'I will save her life. But only because of you.'

--

'Am I the only one who wants to shoot him right now?'

'Believe me, I do too.'

--

'Work out your damn problems! Now!'

--

'This is not how I thought it'd happen.'