Charlie was leaning against the cave wall in a somewhat upright position. He was able to sit now, if awkwardly hunched over a little. It hurt too much to sit straight. It had been three days in the cave without leaving and he was more bored than pained. He would go crazy if not for all the visitors. Jack checked on him regularly, but usually stayed just to talk for a few minutes afterwards. Locke came bearing words of wisdom that he never understood. Kate tried to bring things to entertain him. She stole a couple of things from Sawyer's tent. "Taste of his own medicine." She said slyly as she dumped a couple of books, a tennis ball and an old newspaper at his feet. Then of course Claire was with him nearly all the time… Claire and Willie. Charlie hadn't particularly liked babies very much before; they were always crying or needing to be changed or something. But Willie was sweet and quiet. Somehow Charlie thought he'd like Willie even if he was the noisiest kid he'd ever laid eyes on.

He was startled out of his thoughts when someone came into the cave. Against the bright light of outside, it took Charlie a moment to see who it was. It was… Sawyer. What was Sawyer doing here? Claire had told him that Sawyer had barely been seen since the mission. He skulked around on the beach in a foul mood, but most of the time, he was off in the forest by himself. Something was up, but know one could figure out what exactly.

"Er, Hello." Charlie said, trying to keep the surprised and puzzled tone out of his voice.

Sawyer looked at Charlie with a hard, protective look in his eyes. After a moment of silence, Sawyer cleared his throat awkwardly. "I came up to the caves for some water." He said finally.

It dawned on Charlie all of a sudden. Sawyer was guilty, he held himself accountable for Danielle shooting him. Who'd have thought it? Sawyer, with a conscience? Charlie mused secretly, but keeping a straight face.

Sawyer scuffed the dirt floor with his shoes. "Feeling better?" he managed.

"Yeah. A lot, actually." Charlie answered as reassuringly as possible.

"Well. That's good." Sawyer looked furious at himself for acting so embarrassed. "Well." He said again. He pointed behind him with his thumb. "The… water…" and he backed out of the cave.

Claire entered as he left and she waved cheerfully at him.

She sat down next to Charlie, holding the ever-present Willie in her arms. He was asleep against her shoulder, and she rubbed his back absent-mindedly.

"Guess what?" Claire said excitedly, interlacing fingers with Charlie's.

"Huh?"

"Locke's making you crutches, and Jack said you could walk around with them when they're finished!"

"Thank God! I'm going loopy just sitting here." He said, grinning at her. Looking at him, Claire's eyes filled up suddenly with tears.

"What? What is it?" he said, alarmed.

Claire shook her head. "Nothing. It's nothing. I'm just… so glad you're okay." She wiped her eyes quickly. "I don't know what I would have done. To have lost everything…" she trailed away, unable to put into word what was whirling around in her mind.

Charlie put his arm around her, and held her in a loving embrace for a long time, knowing that not saying anything at that moment was saying everything.


Kate stood in the water, the waves rolling past her ankles. It soothed her to no end to feel the fine sand under her feet and the cool ocean coming back and forth with a soft white spray. She looked across the horizon. The sky was pink and orange. It looked like one of those abstract paintings where all the paint was just splashed across a canvas.

With a jump, she realized that Jack was next to her.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked quietly.

"Paint." She answered simply, not explaining because she didn't want to sound sappy. She abruptly turned to him. "Jack. I miss you… so much. I know…" she faltered, then continued. "I know I haven't treated you right, God, I know that, I mean, you have a right to… hate me I know, but… but… can't we just talk again? Just… talk?"

And Jack smiled a little. He put his hands in his pockets and nodded slightly.

"Yeah. Let's talk."


Michael and Walt were playing frisbee as the dog jumped back and forth between them, and Walt laughed.

Shannon sat beside Sayid, conversing about nothing in particular. Boone tentatively came near and joined them.

Sun leaned against a tree, watching Jin as he fished. Slowly he turned and saw her. He nodded to her in acknowledgment, and she lifted a hand in greeting.

Sawyer sat in his tent, lighting a cigarette and brooding. He tried to find the book he had been reading earlier, but it wasn't anywhere in the tent.

Locke lifted up the crutches he had spent all day making. They were finished. Now, what to make next?

Hurley grinned mischievously. He knew Sawyer would have batteries in his tent somewhere. He ambled off to get his CD player.

Kate and Jack sat on the beach, laughing and smiling at each other for the first time in days.

Claire was asleep in Charlie's arms. He looked down at her, and at Willie and smiled to himself.


It was dark in Danielle's home. A single candle burned on the floor. She sat cross-legged in front of the candle, muttering angrily to herself. She held fistfuls of scrolls and maps and papers. There were others littered around her.

"Sayid… I spent years… there was an order… to all these sheets… important information… I will never be able to…" she growled savagely in frustration. Then her head snapped up. Had she heard an knock at the trap door? There it was again… she jumped up and strode across the underground room. She threw open the door, not in anger but in greedy anticipation. She knew who knocked on her door so late at night…

A figure stepped down into the dimly lit room. He looked around, surveying the mess.

"Tell me what happened." He said in a calm, cold voice.

Danielle smiled an evil, malicious smile.

"Welcome back, Ethan."

FIN


A/N Yes, that is the end. Aren't I evil? Hee hee. I'm quite proud of how it turned out myself. I originally had Ethan dying at the end, but after the episode when Charlie killed him, I thought… hhmmmmmm what if… and thought this worked much better.

Anyway, thank you all so much for all your reviews, I got so many more than I thought I would. I appreciated every single one of them!