Chapter 15

"So we hold out for a week and then, this ends?" Locke asked Jack doubtfully.

"Thus sayeth Eloise Hawking," Jack said with a similar tone. "I grant she has no reason to lie, but according to Dan and Desmond she doesn't have the greatest record for truthfulness."

"Does anybody connected with the Others?" Locke said reluctantly.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to lead them. I'd think you of all people might have a different opinion," Jack reminded him.

"It wasn't the people; it was the location, remember?" John said with a wry smile.

Despite his own anxiety Jack smiled a little. "How are the guests doing?"

"Considering they're still not even sure why their in this kind of witness protection, pretty well," Locke said. "Sloane and Lexi keep going off together, which I guess means they feel right at home."

Jack actually winced a little. "How is Cassidy handling that particular aspect?"

"Her exact words were 'My house is seeing more action then it ever has, and I'm still not getting laid," Locke said with a smile. "'At least, they're discreet about it."

"Discreet was never a word I thought Mark Sloane capable of," Jack said with an eye roll he couldn't help. "I'm guessing Kate and Cassidy are bonding over stories of a certain con man."

"Actually James hasn't come up that much," Locke told him. "Considering the scars he left on Cassidy, it's probably not a subject either wants to broach."

"Enough with the domestic discussion. Still no signs of anything suspicious?"

"Not in the day and a half we've been here." Locke paused. "How's the cover story holding up?"

Jack sighed. "Probably won't last much longer."

According to Penny's sources, there had been people in Boston asking about all four of the doctors who had been supposedly attending the convention there the previous day. About eight hours ago the people in question had stopped their interviews. By now the people connected with Hanso had known they'd been led down a false trail. What they would do next, nobody had any idea.

Ben was certain the next step would be they would come back to Seattle Grace and start demanding answers from the staff. Considering that the only people who knew where Derek, Mark, George and Lexi Grey were right now were the Oceanics, none of them knew what kind of steps these people would take if they met with what they would considered to be obstruction so close to their deadline, The one thing they were sure of was, the hospital wasn't prepared to handle it.

Which was why a group of them were headed back to the hospital right now. Jack, Juliet and Sayid were going in one car. Ben agreed to go in a separate vehicle, which wasn't a huge shock. What did surprise everybody was that he'd asked Izzie and Alex to come with him – and that neither had hesitated before accepting.

There had been objections from a few people – the most vociferous coming from Sayid. What stilled them was the fact that Izzie had told them that she would have been going to the hospital even if Ben hadn't asked.\

"I don't need to remind you these are my friends to that might be in danger," Izzie had said with tone that had the kind of steel not even Alex had known her to be capable of. "If you think I'm just going to stay behind while they're in danger, you clearly don't know me at all."

Everyone had looked at Alex to understandably talk his fiancée out of it. "Hey I've been trying to talk Stevens out of shit the last two years with no luck, and if you think I'm suddenly going to be able to do so now, you're crazier than I'm pretty sure most of you are."

"Um, you do know these people are heavily armed?" Hurley said gingerly to Izzie. "And, like, they've already tried to hurt you before."

"Hurley, how many treks did you take across the island with everybody?" Izzie pointed out. "Leaving aside the heavily armed Others, there was a monster made out of smoke and traps set by an insane Frenchwoman. Not for nothing, but you were in more danger as anybody else."

Hurley considered this. "I tried, dude," he said to Jack.

Everybody looked at Jack. "You guys all know how bad I was at talking certain people out of going into dangerous situations before," he reminded them. "And despite my best efforts half the hospital seems to have gotten involved. I'm going to shut up before Callie decides to come along."

"Well since you mentioned," Callie began.

"Absolutely not," Hurley squeezed his girlfriend.

"I was kidding," Callie said gently. "Somebody needs to stay behind to stitch everybody up when this goes sideways."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Juliet said with that familiar smile.

"Um, how many times did any of our plans work out perfectly?" Hurley had reminded them.

"So now you're on your way to the hospital," Locke told them. "Either to try and get there ahead of them or to be the cavalry. " He paused. "Are any of you armed?"

"That's the next problem we're going to need to deal with," Jack admitted.

Jack was licensed to carry a gun in the state of Washington. So was Juliet – God bless her Florida residency. With everybody else, the problems started very quickly. Sayid was pretty deadly as a fighter without a weapon which was the main reason he was coming and he know how quickly things could go sideways. This was the real reason only the three of them were coming. There were going to be a lot of questions when things went wrong, but right now they had to focus on the here and now.

Which was why they were going to play the one trump card they had.

"None of them would believe me if I told them this, but part of me was hoping that the two of you would have put up a fight when I asked if you could come with me."

"Why?" Alex asked Ben. "Because it would make you feel like you were a leader again?"

"Because right now, the two of you are the closest things in the world that I have to friends," Ben said in a tone of pain that almost nobody was used to hearing from him. "Isn't that the saddest thing you've ever heard?"

Even Izzie and Alex knew how big an admission this was from Ben Linus. "I'm relatively sure the only person who gave a damn about me probably my entire life is Iz," Alex said with similar honesty. "You tell me."

Ben didn't look away from the road. "Juliet was right when she said that I know problem sending people off to die when I was in charge," he admitted. "Some of the people I lead I'd known for years. Hell, I'd known Ethan almost his entire life; I don't think I so much as shed a tear when I heard he'd been killed. It is a hard thing to be a leader – Jack no doubt has told you as much. You have to learn to detach your emotions from the decision you make. I have no doubt that's why everyone on the island thought I was a monster."

"At least no one questioned your authority," Izzie wasn't sure why she was defending a man no one thought to defend. Maybe she was thinking of him as a friend. "Jack spent his entire time on the island being challenged by just about everything, hated when anybody questioned his decisions and despite his frustrations, could never bring himself to share his power. He realizes now what a shitty leader he was."

"He still managed to get his people off the island despite everything I did," Ben told them. "What does that tell you?"

"We knew that and we got in the car with you anyway," Izzie reminded him. "What does that say about us?"

"That you care about your friends. Something that I never did in my entire life."

"We're about to go head first into a dangerous situation," Alex said in his typical manner. "Would you mind dropping the pity party and giving us a damn clue as to what your plan is?"

"All right," Ben said. "But I'm telling you up front, you're going to hate it."

It didn't take long for him to say what he needed. "You're right. I think this plan sucks," Alex told them. "But considering that nobody in the hospital is likely to have a better one, it's probably our only option."

"Before that, let's dissect it a little," Izzie said. "You seem relatively sure that these people – Hanso's or Widmore's or whoever they are – have infiltrated the hospital."

"They're looking for your friends. This is where they work," Ben said simply.

"No one's denying that. But you seem relatively sure that it's not going to be anything as 'peaceful' as the interrogation I went through," Izzie pointed out.

"They're operating on a deadline. The next step is violence."

"Yeah, but doesn't that lead to a risk of exposure?" Alex pointed out. "There is no way this will end without some kind of law enforcement getting involved. "

"They almost certainly have a cover story for what they're planning." Ben told them. "It won't survive close scrutiny, but they plan to be gone before that happens."

"And the fact that one of the Oceanics works there doesn't enter into it?" Izzie asked.

"They're counting on the public having as short a memory as they already have proven to be."

Neither Alex nor Izzie could argue with that. Alex then asked the question that mattered the most. "How violent is their exit strategy going to be?"

Ben took a deep breath. "It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't plan to blow up the hospital."

Izzie and Alex looked at each other. "Is Bailey on today?" Alex asked.

"She should be," Izzie took out her phone.

"I'm sorry, you're planning to call one of your attendings and tell them what?" Ben was incredulous.

"You just said they might blow up Seattle Grace," Alex said. "Would it stun you to know we have a code word for that?"

SEATTLE GRACE

Miranda Bailey was the kind of person who was used to being in control. It's why she, a short African-American woman, was nicknamed 'The Nazi'. Everybody – even Weber to an extent – jumped when she spoke. She didn't even have to raise her voice for you to know how much trouble you were in. There were situations when she was afraid as much as anybody else but she was notorious for always being calm. She would never need to let the fear in; fear wouldn't be caught dead near her. In a way, she had a command of both science and faith in a measure that both Jack and Locke would envy.

When Jack had been the first to gradually let her in on what had really happened after the crash, she admitted there were parts of the story she didn't necessarily understand but she had no reason to doubt the man who'd told them. And she'd been able to hold to that belief over the past two years. The last few weeks though she was beginning to wonder how Jack had managed to maintain his calm in the force of what even she would consider 'overwhelming weirdness.'

When Jack and Juliet had told the staff that the assault on Stevens was almost certainly part of their craziness and that no one from the hospital could get involved, she'd been unsettled not only by their certainty as well as their similar sureness that violence was going to ensue as a result. She wasn't the kind of person who obeyed orders without question, but she'd listened to them and hoped that nothing bad happened.

Then things had begun to spiral. First Stevens and Karev had gotten involved. She wasn't entirely shocked by this – they knew the most about what had happened on the island – but after everything that had happened to Stevens the past two years she was genuinely afraid of what might happen when she started dabbling in the strange as she called it.

Her fears were more than warranted. Not even four days after their initial involvements, Arizona Robbins had disappeared. Miranda barely knew Robbins – and honestly from what she had seen, she thought she was too flighty to be an attending – but her disappearance and the way Juliet had reacted when she was gone through fear into a woman who wasn't used to feeling it. Whatever mess had begun with 'Abaddon's assault on Stevens wasn't even close to finished.

The next day, Derek had come to Weber's office and had a closed door meeting with him for nearly an hour. Miranda still wasn't sure of what Derek had said, but she was relatively certain it had something to do with the strange. Because before rounds the next day, he had said how pleased he was that Derek, Sloane, O'Malley and Lexi Grey would be representing Seattle Grace at the Boston Medical Convention. Which was odd because he'd been trying for weeks to scare up volunteers and Shepherd and Sloane had been among the most vehement in their refusals.

She'd wanted to talk them to about this only to find they were already gone. Not only that Meredith, who could have gone only to support her fiancée, sister and best friend had decided to leave them behind. And she seemed a little too upset for somebody whose friends were going to be back next week. Indeed, she seemed more upset than she'd been when her mother died. The only behavior that was remotely similar to the Meredith Grey she knew was that she said everything was okay. Bailey believed her about as much as she had after McDreamy had chosen Addison over her, only this time she was far more concerned about her well-being. She'd had long conversations with Stevens and Karev – more than they'd had in the past, in fact – but Miranda didn't believe their reassurances either.

For the next twenty four hours Miranda felt that the hospital was a ticking bomb, but nothing had happened. However when she got on shift today, she knew something was wrong from the moment she set foot in Seattle Grace.

It wasn't just that half the attendings were absent or that Weber was being too quiet. It was just that something felt off. The hospital had always been a sanctuary to her, even more than her own home. Now it felt like it had been…invaded? Was that the right term? It sounded absurd and yet reasonable simultaneously.

Then Miranda's cell rang. Which was weird. When someone wanted to reach Bailey, they always paged her. The only person who'd call her would be Weber and that wasn't his number. In fact, she didn't recognize the number at all. It was probably some telemarketer. She was going to dismiss the call.

Then the instinct that had made Jack absolutely certain she deserved to be chief of surgery someday intervened. The fact that sort of behavior had been the kind of thing he'd mocked John Locke for on the island was the same kind of behavior he approved of in Bailey. Something told her she needed to accept this call.

"Who is this?"

"Bailey, its Karev."

A bit of 'The Nazi' returned to her tone. "How the hell did you get my number?"

"Don't you remember? You gave it to me when Iz was in chemo. You said if I ever needed to talk to you about anything to call you."

Of course. The reason she'd blanked was because immediately after Stevens' surgery, she and Karev had basically become Jack Shephard's pet project. Not that she was jealous or anything. "What's going on, Karev, and you damn well better not lie?"

"Bailey, when I finish talking you're going to wish I had been."

Alex wasn't using his usual snarky tone. There was genuine worry in it. "Does this have to do with all the weirdness the last couple of weeks?"

There was a pause. "That is the understatement of the decade." Stevens was now speaking.

"Stevens? What the hell's going on?"

"It would take too long to explain and you wouldn't believe me anyway," Stevens said in a steely tone. "Miranda, I know that we burned up a lot of whatever goodwill we had with you after everything involving Denny. But right now I need you to have the same faith in me that you did when we need to get his heart."

"I hate to remind you how badly that ended," Miranda was trying to being methodical.

"I realize that. But the stakes are much higher now. It's not just one patient or even the patients. It's the whole hospital."

Stevens had sounded near tears so often involving Denny and resigned during her cancer scare. The Isobel Stevens she was hearing now didn't sound like either of those people. She was sure of herself in a way that Stevens almost never had the entire first year of her residency. And it was that certainty that convinced her to listen.

"What do you need me to do?"

"You need to go to Weber and tell him to set up the hospital for a Code Black. But he has to arrange so that it doesn't look to anybody in the hospital that anything has changed. No lights, no loudspeakers, no calls to law enforcement."

Miranda understood what she had heard but she needed to say it aloud: "You want the hospital locked down without it seeming like its being locked down?"

"Is that possible, Bailey?" Alex asked.

"If there's a way to do it Richard will know how." Bailey paused. "How much of what's going on does he already know about?"

"Enough that he won't give you any crap about it," Izzie told her.

Was it petty of her that she was a little hurt that she was the last to know about what was going on? She pushed it aside. "What else do you need me to do?"

"Dr, Shephard, Dr. Carlson and Sayid Jarrah are going to be coming to the hospital any minute," Izzie paused. "You know the entrance near the autopsy bay?"

She did. Almost a year and a half ago every resident had been working on corpses to prepare for their first solo surgery. It was also the only one entrance with no security camera. "Yes," she said slowly.

"After you tell Weber, we need you to go there and wait. The second they arrive, make it sure it is absolutely secure."

Bailey took this in. "I'm assuming there's a logical explanation for why I'm doing this?"

It sounded like Stevens was trying to smother a laugh – and not a particularly sane sounding one. "Explanation, yes; logical, not even close."

Miranda Bailey knew just enough about what had happened to Jack and the others after the crash to know she never personally wanted to deal with any part of it. Now it seemed like it was about to hit Seattle Grace – her hospital – like a hurricane. And all she could was to try to manage like any other mass casualty that she'd been a part of.

"I'm guessing evacuating would be a bad idea," she said slowly.

"If there's any sign that things are off, it'll tell them." Karev said. "Of course, there's no guarantee that if you do this absolutely perfectly they won't know anyway."

"I've missed your optimistic nature, Karev," Bailey said almost out of habit.

"This is me being realistic, Bailey," Alex said. "This may be the day that Seattle Grace what it's made of – and if we do things perfectly, the world will never know it."

A feeling that Miranda Bailey did everything in her power to pretend didn't exist was starting to grow in her gut. You couldn't call it fear. It was nothing short of panic.

"You will explain to me what this is about when it's over," Bailey said in a pale version of her authority.

"All you need to know is that the island is about to invade our hospital," Stevens said softly. "Beyond that, it really doesn't matter."

TEN MINUTES LATER

"You know, one of your speeches that everything was going to work out would sound really good right now."

Jack smiled. "You never believed me then, I don't think you'd start now."

"I do have to hand it to you though," Kate said with a mix of humor and sadness. "You've finally managed to do something you never could on the island. Get involved in a messy situation and be far enough way that following you five minutes later wouldn't do many any good."

"Hard to think we'd ever remember those as the good old days," Jack said with a similar tone.

They were just about to pull up to the hospital. Everybody in the car knew that the odds weren't good and that they had no time to spare. They also knew that if Jack and Kate didn't talk know no one on either side would ever forgive anyone if it didn't work out.

"I won't ask you to promise me that. Just do everything in your power not to die," Kate said slowly.

Jack took a deep breath. "Please don't make me say it," he told her.

"You have no idea how tired I got of hearing it on the island," Kate said with a smile in her voice.

"Maybe we should've put in our vows," Jack said with a similar tone.

Kate hesitated. "I will always be with you, Jack."

She hung up.

Juliet was staring at the bay. "Wishing James was here?" Jack couldn't help but ask.

"He's always been a better shot than you," Juliet said deadpan.

Jack couldn't help but admit that. "I keep thinking of what Tom said the first time I met him. That we were in their home. That we were unwanted guests. That the only reason we were on the island was because they let us live there."

"Need I remind how full of it he was?" Juliet said. "And that these aren't quite the same people."

"I know," Jack was looking straight at the hospital. "But it's actually true here. This is our place and they are unwanted guests. And I have absolutely no intention of letting them get comfortable."

In that respect Juliet couldn't agree more. "Then let's kick them out."

They got out of the car and walked to the entrance to the morgue. At the door was Miranda Bailey.

"Is now a good time to tell you that part of me really hoped that you were lying about everything you told me?" Bailey said in her sarcastic manner.

"If it makes you feel any better, I wish I had been", Jack said as they walked in.

Miranda pretended to think for a moment. "Nope. Doesn't help."

As she closed the door, Bailey asked another question. "When I learn what this is all about when it's over, will I understand why all this was necessary?"

"We're living through it and we're still not sure what it's all about," Sayid told her.

"That's what you want to hear," Bailey found herself saying.

"Weber's been briefed?" Juliet asked in her no-nonsense tone.

"He knows what he's supposed to do if he doesn't know why he's doing it," Bailey looked at him. "Did you inspire this kind of loyalty on the island?"

Jack chuckled at this despite everything. "I wish I inspired this level of obedience on the island. Everybody heard me out and did what they were going to do anyway. My future wife seemed to take a special pleasure in doing the opposite of what I told her to do."

"I guess I never gave Kate enough respect since I met her," Miranda said admiringly. "Well now that you have our undivided attention, what is the next step?'

Jack looked at Sayid. "This is as close to a war scenario as we've ever been in," he told Sayid. "What would your next step be?"

Sayid looked at Miranda cautiously – he didn't know her nearly as well as half the group that lived in Seattle and he half expected her to have the ingrained reactions of most Americans when they met an Iraqi. "We need to go to security," he said slowly.

Miranda was fortunately for everybody not like most Americans. "Please tell me you at least have some idea what these invaders look like." Sayid nodded. "Follow me. By the way, are Karev and Stevens doing what they said they would?"

"They'll be right behind us."

An ambulance pulled up to the ER. Alex opened the back door and helped Izzie bring out the stretcher.

"Dean Moriarty, forty-three year old male," Stevens said, speaking as fast as any paramedic would. "Collapsed in the front door of the Space Needle. Suffering from complications of spinal surgery he underwent three years ago in a less-than-suitable environment."

Meredith Grey nodded. "Get him to Trauma 1," she nodded as they wheeled him inside.

Once they were there, Meredith took out her pager and typed the two words that would tell Richard Weber to lock the hospital down: May 1.

After closing the curtain Stevens and Karev took off the paramedics' jackets that had been the ambulance that they had found three blocks away from the hospital and began unhooking Ben.

"Meredith, this is Benjamin Linus, resident of the island for thirty years, leader of the native population for more than thirteen," Izzie told her.

"And based on what Dr. Carlson and Claire have told me, pretty much the embodiment of evil incarnate," Meredith said frankly.

"He's actually not that bad when you get to know him," Alex said. "Of course, Stevens and I don't know him that well and we're not always the best judges of character."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence," Ben said as he began to sit up.

"Hey it took them nearly a year for anybody but Iz actually like me," Alex reminded him. "Besides, as a rule surgeons only seem to get along with other surgeons."

"And not for nothing, Mr. Linus," Meredith said slowly. "But at this very moment practically everybody I love in this world is in mortal danger because of some business connected with your island. Now rationally I realize none of this is your fault, but at this moment I'm not inclined to be particularly rational."

Ben got off the gurney. "One could hardly blame you for that," he admitted. He looked at Stevens. "Would you mind?"

Izzie looked at Alex and handed Ben his baton back.

"What do you think these men are armed with?" Meredith found herself saying. "Sticks and stones?"

"I assure you, Dr. Grey, this weapon has gotten me very far against far more heavily armed individuals," Ben told her as he took and slipped it into his pocket.

Meredith shook her head. "Three years of being at the scenes of mass traumas, and now I'm going to witness one being enacted, "she told Stevens and Karev.

"Look on the bright side," Alex said. "At least you don't have your hand in the body of a man with an explosive round in his chest this time."

Ben turned. "Forgive my bluntness, Dr. Grey, but I've given to understand you tend to like being close to death."

Alex and Izzie couldn't help but wince at that. Not even Karev or Yang with their blunt bedside manner have ever come close to acknowledging just how close Meredith had come to dying in her first year.

"There were extenuating circumstances," Meredith said slowly.

"And maybe some day I'll be able to talk them with you over a cup of coffee," Ben actually sounded sympathetic.

"Why would I want to talk to you?" Meredith had a tone of pettiness in her voice.

"Let's just say you're not the only one who's had visions of dead loved ones," Ben said. "Right now the only thing I care about is if you want to live."

"More than you can possibly imagine," Meredith told him.

Ben looked at her for a moment. "We have to start searching the hospital. Floor by floor."

Izzie looked at Alex. "Are you sure that's the most efficient way to do this?"

"Your friends are going to be searching the security footage for people they recognize," Ben reminded them. "I'm going to be looking the hospital for people I do."

Meredith looked at them. "Then there might be a way to do this that works," she said carefully.

"What are you thinking, Mer?" Izzie asked.

"I'm going to lose whatever our new patient paperwork," Meredith said slowly. "In the meantime, you're going to help him find his room." She looked at Ben. "Can you handle being in a wheelchair?"

Ben gave a painful smile. "I'm used to it."

LGLGL

At this point Bailey wasn't sure if she wanted to know what Jack and the rest were looking for or not. Right now she wasn't entirely convinced they knew who they were looking for.

Until after five minutes when Jack asked the security guard to freeze the footage in the third monitor. "Sayid?" he said quietly.

Sayid looked from the monitor he'd been looking at. "What floor is that?" he asked.

"Fifth floor, that's the ICU," Jack hesitated. "I think that's him but I need to know if you're sure."

Sayid took a minute to look. "It's him."

"You're certain?"

"He was standing next to the body of the man he was impersonating," Sayid said. "I'm sure."

"Would someone please tell me what the hell's going on?" Miranda demanded.

"One of our fellow survivors has decided to pay us a visit," Sayid said. "But he has no intention of it being a happy reunion."

"Looks like he's brought friends," Juliet's focus had never wavered from her own monitor. "Take a look who's in maternity. Only I'm pretty certain she's not expecting."

Sayid looked down. "Elsa Glaus, I presume. It looks like they don't intend to leave without answers. It's time we gave them to do them."

"Why should you start now?" Miranda couldn't help but blurt out.

LAX

Frank Lapidus had just turned his cell phone on and saw something he didn't want to see – nine missed calls. The last four were from Desmond Hume.

He was putting it to his ear when a voice interrupted. "Good to be back in Los Angeles."

Frank looked up to see a dark-skinned man with a goatee looking at him. "I don't believe I know you."

"You don't," He walked right behind Frank and removed what looked to be a gun made of plastic. "But we have a couple of mutual friends."

ICU

"I believe you called for a consult."

The man Jack was talking to didn't turn around. "You're not my doctor."

"Actually I believe I was at one time, Scott" Jack said slowly. "Or is it Steve?"

The man slowly turned around.

"You have no idea how much I hated that name," Samuel Radzinsky said.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

I'm not being political about guns, just trying to stay within the bounds of the story.

Basically I gave Ben a statement that James made near the end of Season 2 about him and Jack and what that Not-Locke made to Ben after he killed Jacob. In this scenario, I think both situations apply.

For those of you who might not have seen Grey's Anatomy way back in Season 2, there was actually a situation where the bomb squad had to be called in when an explosive shell was lodged in an unconscious man's body. (Critically, I actually considered that two-parter one of the high points of the series.) It was referred to as a Code Black in that series; that term has different connotations in other medical dramas.

Miranda Bailey is now being forced to confront the true ugliness of the Oceanics situation. But one of the things I always liked about her character (even when the series stank) was Bailey's ability to rise to the occasion.

Ben finally meets Meredith Grey. And the thing is, the same way he has something in common with Izzie Stevens, he has it with her too.

Ben probably doesn't hate being in a wheelchair as much as Locke would, but it's probably not a fond memory for him either.

I'm betting you thought I'd forgotten about Frank and Scott/Steve! Hah hah. A Lost fan never forgets!

I actually think I may be coming to the end of this particular story. Maybe just one more chapter and an epilogue. Who knew? Keep reading and reviewing!