Chapter 15 to a LOST Love

Alex woke up the next morning to feel the sun warming her face. She tried to open her eyes but she couldn't. She couldn't open them! Her heart started to race; but then she remembered yesterday's events, that she was blind, and calmed down. She felt a warm arm across her stomach and remembered that Sayid had fallen asleep next to her. Alex didn't want to move at all, but she had a sudden urge to get up and stretch. Carefully moving his arm off of her stomach, Alex got up and slowly felt her way out of the cave. She didn't have the heart to wake up Sayid; he'd been through so much with her, he needed to sleep. She tried to imagine what he looked like sleeping, and smiled at the picture.

She headed toward the sound of the ocean, because she knew there would be no trees down on the beach for her to run into. The forest would be too tricky to walk through; and besides, other people might be down there as well. A couple of times, she banged her foot into fallen branches or rocks, but for the most part, she got down there alright.

Smelling breakfast cooking, Alex suddenly felt sand underneath her feet. Pleased with herself at having found the beach, Alex heard voices to her right. She turned that way and suddenly a voice called out, "Hey, Alex! Over here!" It was Michael's voice.

Charlie, Claire, Marie, Kate, Sawyer, Jin, Michael, Walt, and Hurley were sitting around a cooking fire with Sun roasting a hare and two fish that Jin had caught earlier that morning. The meal smelled fabulous to Alex, who had eaten nothing for dinner yesterday. They were eating their portion of the rabbit, fish, and fruit, talking and laughing. Claire was feeding Marie tiny bits of fruit and smiling the whole time. Sawyer had purposely sat next to Kate and she didn't seem to mind at all; in fact, she was rather enjoying his company. It was Michael who saw Alex standing around and he called out to her.

Michael turned to Charlie to hold his "plate" of food (which was actually a piece of bark) for him and he stood up. He walked over to Alex and touched her arm. "Hey, Alex, good morning! How did you sleep?" He started to lead Alex to where the group was sitting.

Alex smiled. "I slept alright, Michael, and you?"

"Eh, I've had better nights. That stupid dog, Vincent, he kept barking at the wind in the trees and coming over to lick my face. Not a pleasant evening…" Michael said exasperated. Alex laughed. Michael led her over to where the rest of the group was, and receiving good morning's from everyone, she sat down.

Alex felt someone touch her arm and she felt the hand that did. Small hand, thin fingers, a metal band around the fourth finger, and smooth skin…she heard Sun say, "Be careful. Food is hot, Alex."

"Hey, Sun," Alex asked. "Will you always wear your ring around your finger? That way I can tell it's you when you touch me, okay?"

Sun said cheerily, "Okay, I will. It won't leave my finger." Alex smiled her thanks and started to eat. A moan escaped her lips. "Oh, Sun, this fish is excellent. I am thoroughly impressed; thank you."

Sun smiled and sat down with her own food. Jin gave Sun a look, a disappointed look. He still hadn't gotten over her "betrayal" of him; she could speak English and never told him. It would have saved him a lot of trouble communicating with the others if he'd have known that…Sun simply returned a blank look and commenced eating.

"Hey, who all's here, by the way?" Alex suddenly asked, her mouth full of food.

They each said their names in turn, going around the circle.

"Sawyer."

"Kate."

"Hurley."

"Claire and little Marie."

"Charlie."

"Sun and Jin," Sun spoke for both as Jin didn't say anything.

"Michael."

"Walter David Myers the Third."

At that, everyone laughed. Michael smiled and ruffled his son's hair. Alex laughed and suddenly coughed. Still laughing and coughing at the same time, Alex continued to cough, thinking she had swallowed her food funny, but then realized she hadn't taken a bite yet. Michael leaned over and hit her back. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.

Alex stopped coughing and smiled. "Yup, just choked on my food, that's all," she lied. Everyone resumed eating and Charlie spoke up.

"You know, I heard you're not supposed to hit any one on the back if they're choking. Supposedly it'll just make the choking worse."

Michael said, "Well, I could have used that information a little earlier, Charlie, thank you. And besides, she's fine now, so obviously my hitting of her back worked."

"So there!" Walt piped up smartly. Everyone laughed again.

Hurley and Charlie told a few jokes for their amusement and then they all started talking about politics. I won't go into that here, as some of the group was very adamant of their political standings while others took an entirely different view. Suddenly, Alex asked, "Hey, has anybody seen Jack? Or Boone and Locke, for that matter?"

Murmurs went around the group; none of them had seen the three. "Hey, Shannon's gone, too," Walt noticed. "That's weird…she never misses breakfast."

Alex smiled. "You're right, Walt, that is weird of Shannon. Locke and Boone I can understand missing breakfast, but not Shannon!" Walt giggled.

Hmmm…where could those four have gotten to?

A Bleeding Rose