A/N: Well, here it is – the LAST chapter. It's finished! Hurrah! I hope you've enjoyed my story, thanks so much to all of my reviewers so far, please keep reviewing to let me know what you think. Above all, enjoy! Gitania

Memories of Hope

Chapter 14: Becoming Found

"…apple rolled out of her hand as she fell to the floor…" Walt was reading aloud when Hope woke slowly, the words beginning to register in her mind. She had been unconscious since fainting on the beach, but she was proud to see that story time was continuing without her.

"How are you feeling?" Jack was sitting near her, speaking in a whisper so he wouldn't disturb the group outside. Hope realised that she had been brought to the caves, and was sitting up near the entrance, wrapped in blankets. She was happy to be able to see the regular group gathered by the fires as Walt read.

She nodded and smiled softly at Jack, to indicate that she was alright, but her throat was dry and she couldn't speak. She lifted her head carefully and looked around. Boone sat right beside her, holding her left hand and sleeping lightly.

"You've been in and out for a long time." Jack said, "You fell at the beach around 9 hours ago. I was starting to get pretty worried."

Hope looked back to Boone, realising how haggard he looked.

"He hasn't left your side since you got here," Jack continued, smiling at the couple.

Hope coughed dryly, removing her right hand from the fold of blankets to take the water bottle that he handed her. She drank a little, feeling the water soothe her throat.

"How did I get up here?" Hope asked quietly.

"Sawyer." Jack laughed a little, "He saw you fall right outside his shelter. He carried you all the way here when he couldn't wake you. Boone was livid. Well, he was probably jealous, more than anything."

Hope smiled fondly at the figure resting beside her.

"He hasn't stopped pacing around all day," Jack said of Boone, "We've all been pretty worried about you. At first I thought it was just heat stroke, but then Sawyer told me about taking a policeman's badge from him, and I wasn't so sure..."

"I've been getting my memories back quickly over the last couple of days. I think I know what happened to me. I remember it all now, clear as day."

Jack looked a little worried, "We'll sort that out when you're feeling better, okay?"

"…couldn't bear to bury one so beautiful. So they put a glass top on the coffin, and left her in the forest for all the animals to mourn her. Many days later, a handsome prince was riding in the forest, when…" she could hear Walt's story continuing in the background.

"Story time." she smiled at the thought.

"Yeah," Jack laughed, "Walt decided that as co-founder, he should carry on until you were better. He's doing a good job. Snow White."

"I noticed," Hope smiled. She yawned quietly, and Jack stood to let her rest.

"I'll be right outside if you need me, okay?"

Hope nodded her thanks, and watched him join the group around the fire.

"Hey," she whispered softly, squeezing Boone's hand to wake him. He woke slowly, and she smiled at his child-like way.

He looked over and saw her awake, immediately alert. He spoke quickly but tenderly, "Hey, are you okay? What happened? Have you seen Jack? He really wants to make sure you're alright."

Hope raised her eyebrows and gave him a soft mothering look, quieting him without effort, "I'm okay."

He sighed deeply, "Okay."

"Jack was right here when I woke up, and he doesn't seem so worried anymore. It's okay."

"Okay," he said again, sitting closer and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I was scared," he admitted, "I didn't know what would happen to you. Sawyer said you just collapsed."

"I'm okay now. We'll talk about it later, okay? I'm kind of tired now – and you don't look too lively yourself." Hope smiled at him, grateful for his care.

"Yeah, I had a big day." he laughed, "Taking care of my sick girlfriend, you know."

"Your girlfriend, huh?" He had never used the word before, and Hope found that she was comforted to hear it.

"Well, yeah. You're my girlfriend, right? Or do I have to ask you first, before I can start calling you that?" Boone joked.

"Was that you asking?"

"I guess so – is it okay?"

"Yeah," Hope smiled, "It's kind of young and corny, but I like it."

Boone smiled and kissed her forehead, "Okay then."

"…they married and lived happily ever after." Walt quoted from the book, and Hope smiled at the timing.

As the others all prepared to sleep, Hope began telling Boone her own story.

"And then we crashed here." she finished, a while later. It wasn't quite 'happily ever after', but it was what she had to work with.

"So, do you think your dad caught the bad guys?" Boone asked as she finished.

"I guess he must have, or why would I be going back to America?"

Boone nodded his agreement. "So, what happens now?"

"I don't know." Hope sighed, saying thoughtfully, "He must have arrested the guys and got a court date, and everything, but without a witness they might have gotten away with it. It depends on the amount of forensic evidence, I guess."

"I'm sure it turned out alright." Boone tried to encourage her.

Hope snuggled against him, putting her head on his shoulder to sleep. She was growing tired with all the thoughts that were running through her mind. She slept fitfully, but she was happy to wake in the morning without the gunshot she had become so used to.

In the afternoon she travelled back to the beach with her old notebook in hand, looking for a friend.

"Hi," she greeted him with a small smile, and he gestured for her to enter and join him as he sunbaked.

"What do you want, Peaches?" Sawyer smiled, growing more and more used to her company.

"I want to see you."

"Oh yeah?" he laughed, trying to hide his relief that she had recovered quickly from her collapse the day before.

"I wanted to say thankyou." Hope began, dropping the notebook and sitting close to him on the sand as they basked in the sun. "Jack told me how you carried me all the way to the caves, but it's not just that. The badge you returned to me really helped me figure everything out. I know you didn't give it to me just because of story time. I know you don't really care what we think about you."

"Whose is the badge?" Sawyer asked, and Hope realised that for all of his involvement, she had never explained anything to him. She felt bad about that.

"It was my dad's. He was a cop. Well, he probably still is a cop. He found out that a bunch of guys he worked with were making deals with the bad guys, and he was going to tell. They shot my mom as a threat to keep him quiet, and he sent me to Sydney because I was the only witness."

"You saw some guys shoot your mom?" Sawyer was impressed with her ability to handle that, yet strangely disturbed by her detachment.

"Yeah," she sighed deeply, "I finally remember their faces, and there's nothing I can do about it. I drew them in my notebook, but I could be here for the rest of my life, so nobody else will see them, and these guys will go on making dirty deals and shooting the people who get in the way."

Sawyer looked thoughtful, and then stood to take something out of a suitcase.

"Here," he handed her a champagne bottle with a screw top.

"I don't get it," Hope took the bottle, and looked at it from all directions.

"You put a message in it, and send it out to sea." Sawyer spoke slowly, as though she was brain damaged, and Hope smiled until she realised that he was serious. "Tear out the pages with their pictures on them with a page about what they did, and send it out to sea. See if it gets to someone useful. It's not fool-proof, but it's the closest we've got to email around here."

Hope laughed, "You don't really believe that will work?"

Sawyer scorned, "I don't know, Peaches, and we'll probably never know if we don't get the hell off this island. But what's the harm? Might make you feel better."

Hope looked at him hard, finally seeing something other than a stubborn troublemaker trying to make their lives hell. He wasn't really the devil that she had once thought.

She picked up her notebook and flipped through the pages of her old life. She tore out four pages, each baring the sketch of a man's face, and another which had her writing on it. It was an entry in the book about the day her mother died, telling everything that these men had done – all the crimes they had committed, as far as she knew. She rolled the pages up and put them into the bottle.

She stared at the bottle for a moment, and then flipped through the book again. She tore out the page with the sketch of her father's badge, writing "My Father – Please Contact" on the top with a pen that Sawyer handed her. She rolled up this page too, and slipped it in among the others.

Sawyer stood with her as Hope screwed the top onto the bottle and headed towards the ocean.

"Go ahead, Peaches," he said, urging her on.

He and Hope faced the waves, soaking their pant-legs as they walked into the water. When they were waist-deep, Sawyer nodded, and Hope threw the bottle as far out to sea as she could.

"Think it'll get there?" she asked as they watched the bottle bobbing over waves.

"I think it'll get where it needs to be," Sawyer replied, walking slowly back towards the shore.

"Hey Sawyer," Hope stopped him when they were knee-deep in white-water, "Thanks for everything."

Sawyer laughed ironically, making his way through the water and back onto the sand. He winked at her, saying softly with a hint of smirk, "Shut the hell up, Peaches. You'll ruin my 'all-important bad-boy image'."