Disclaimer: I do not own LOST. Never will. Enough said.

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Author's Note: This chapter took me a while because it took a little bit of research in the beginning to the season. You'll see why. I like the way it turned out so I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twelve: Back at the Beginning… Again

There were no words.

Adam and James watched in silence at the jumble of commotion on the beach in front of them.

"It's…" Adam couldn't get the words out but James nodded.

"Yeah."

They watched wordlessly as the man in the suit ran to help the pregnant girl on the beach. She was on her knees groaning in pain and Jack looked over her in concern. They couldn't hear what anyone was saying but suddenly Adam darted forward through the trees.

James grabbed his arm and yanked him back, "Where the hell are you going?

"That's my mom. She's in trouble."

James sighed in exasperation and dragged Adam further into the forest, "Dude, you can't just go out there."

"Why not? She needs my help."

"Think about it! You're the one she's pregnant with. You can't just go running out there going, 'Mommy, mommy, how can I help?"

Adam threw his hands up and began to pace, "Fine. But what the hell happened? How did we get here?"

James shook his head, "I don't know. I don't know."

"I mean, this is the day of the crash right? Those are our parents out there. Jack and Shannon, your mom… They're younger. But it's them"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know. Maybe…"

They were cut off by the sound of an explosion and both the boys ran back to see what happened. Peering through the leaves they saw Claire, Jack and Hurley lying on the ground looking stunned. Everyone else continued to run around in confusion.

Suddenly Adam felt someone grab his shoulder. He turned around and saw a young man, just a little older than he was, staring back at him.

"Do you have any pens?"

Adam stared at him in confusion, "What?"

"Do you have any pens?"

He shook his head, "No."

The young man ran off in the other direction.

"Who was that?"

Adam shook his head, "I have no idea."

A little while later…

"We just keep hidden."

"Oh, yeah and how long do we do that for? Do we just keep hiding forever?

"I don't know. But if we go out there and start talking to people we could have some serious problems."

"Like what exactly? They don't know us."

James shook his head, "I can think of about a million things that could go wrong. For one, someone could still recognize us. Everyone tells me that I look exactly like my dad. You think it might be a little weird for him if his spitting image is running around this island?"

Adam shrugged and James continued, "And for another thing: we could risk… changing things…"

"How could we do that?"

"Just one simple word… one tiny action could change the course of history… or the future… whatever it is." James looked confused for a moment and shook his head,

"We can't risk changing it."

Adam smiled, "Okay, but think about this… maybe we're supposed to be here. Maybe we were here before and the things we did affected the future or the history as we know it. Maybe we're supposed to change things."

"Do you ever remember in the course of our lives, our parents ever bringing up the fact that they had met us before?"

Adam rubbed his temples, "I can't think about this anymore. It's too confusing."

"Fine. But we can't go out there. We can't talk to anyone. Especially our parents."

Adam nodded in defeat and turned to look through the trees and the group on the beach. The commotion had slowly died down and people were gathered around in small clusters trying to catch their bearings. He watched as Shannon meandered down the beach, looking around in distress. Sayid walked passed her without any acknowledgement. Adam shook his head and turned back around.

"God, that's weird. They don't even know each other."

"What did you expect?"

Adam shrugged, " I don't know. It's just odd. They don't know what's going to happen. They still think they're going to get rescued."

James nodded, "I don't even recognize half the people out there."

Adam looked down at his feet, "That guy. The one with the pens. I saw him talking to Shannon. Must be her brother." He shook his head, " He's going to die in a couple of weeks. The day I was born… or will be born"

James didn't know what to say, "Well, if we're still here you might be able to witness your own birth. Not a lot of people can say that."

"You think we'll be here that long?"

"I have no idea. We could be here to see my birth for all I know."

Adam groaned and ran his hands through his hair, "I really don't want to be stuck here with you for that long.

"You think I'm happy about it?"

They sat in silence and James continued to watch the activity on the beach. Adam leaned his head back and closed his eyes trying not to think about how hungry he was. Or how much his feet hurt. Or where Nadia was. Or how long they were going to be stuck in the past.

"You think our parents are worried about us?"

There was no answer. He opened his eyes and looked up at James who was staring with a frozen expression at the beach.

"What? Is something wrong?"

James just shook his head and Adam stood up to see what he was looking at. His shoulders sagged when he saw the man directly in front of him smoking a cigarette and reading something on a folded piece of paper.

"It's my dad."

Adam let out a breath, "Wow. Everyone was right, you do look like him."

James parted the branches and stepped out onto the sand. Adam grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed.

"Going to talk to him."

"You were the one saying all that crap about how we couldn't go mess up the future or whatever."

"I changed my mind." James tried to go back out by Adam blocked his path.

"You can't."

James clenched his jaw, "Listen, I've never really known my dad. He died when I was four. You think I'm going to give up this chance?"

Adam felt compassion for the younger man but he shook his head, "Look. My mom's out there too. For the past five years all I've wanted to do is just talk to her. But right now is not the best time for that. You were right. We can't just go running around, messing everything up. You have to give up this chance. You have to. You know that."

James closed his eyes and moved backwards. Adam didn't know what to say, "Listen, I…"

"No. you're right. I'm just going to uh… find something to eat." He turned around and headed further into the woods. Adam watched him leave, unsure of what to say.

Later that night…

"What the hell was that?"

"You know, I think I've decided that maybe I'd rather be on the beach."

"So, now you say that?"

Adam and James cowered behind the trees as they listened to the crunching, groaning noise of the thing, monster, whatever it was, in the woods. They could hear the concerned murmurs of the people behind them.

"So, maybe at night we could just stay on the beach. Keep ourselves separate."

"Good plan."

The next morning…

"So, why do you get to go?"

"Because I'm the one that's the least recognizable."

James snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, "You just want to go talk to your parents."

"I'm not going to talk to my parents. I'm just going to look for some clothes for us to wear so that we can blend in a little more."

"What's wrong with these?"

" Look at us James! We're wearing their rags. We're wearing their things aged twenty years."

"Fine. Go." James sat down, "I'll just wait here."

Adam rolled his eyes and turned around. He looked down the beach where his mom was standing with her feet in the water. All he wanted to do was go over there and hug her. Instead he turned and walked in the other direction.

Several of the survivors were going through a pile of clothes and he joined them without saying anything. He pulled a blue tee shirt from the pile and then looked down at the faded, torn, used-to-be-blue, tee shirt that he was wearing. It was the same one. He shook his head and muttered under his breath. "Weird."

After a few minutes he had managed to find a couple shirts, pairs of pants and two baseball caps to keep their faces somewhat hidden. He gathered his loot and walked back to the hiding spot.

"Alright, I'm back. See, it didn't take that long. I… James?

The other boy was gone.

"Dammit."

Further down the beach…

James brushed some of his hair forward so that it hid his eyes. He could see his dad sitting on a piece of the debris from the plane, lighting a cigarette and staring out into the distance. He approached him with a pounding heart.

"Hey man, what's up?"

Sawyer glanced at him with a look of distain, "Is there something I can help you with boy?"

James swallowed hard, "Just trying to find someone to talk to."

Sawyer looked in the other direction and took a puff of his cigarette, "Well, you're just gonna have to find someone else to make small talk with."

"Well, I just…"

"I'm sorry. Did you not hear me? I said, go away."

James nodded and took a step backwards, "Sorry, it didn't mean to bother you."

"Bother me? Now why the hell would you think that you were bothering me? I mean, I'm just sitting here relaxing all peaceful on this tropical island paradise. Sure, I'd love to have some kid come talk to me about…what? Did you want to talk about the trauma you just went through? Well, let me tell you kid, this is nothing… I've got stories that would make your hair curl."

James stared at him in shock. He had heard the stories. Knew his father had a hard edge to him. But he had never expected someone with so much anger.

"Leave him alone."

Sawyer and James both turned to look at the source of the voice. Sayid stood behind them with an amused smile on his face.

Sawyer stood up, "Well now, will you lookee here. Looking out for the kid… Interesting since you're the one that got us into this situation."

The smile faded off Sayid's face, "What did you say?"

"Oh, you heard me. I saw you on that plane. Had my suspicions of course… then when the plane went down there really weren't a lot of questions. I mean, that's what you guys do, isn't it?"

Sayid lunged at Sawyer, knocking him to the ground. James stared in shock as the two men fought on the ground. Michael came running up with Walt on his heels.

"Stop it! Stop it!"

James started walking backwards and then turned and ran back to his hiding spot. He clenched his jaw when he saw Adam standing at the edge of the trees with his arms folded over his chest.

"Don't say anything."

Adam shook his head slightly and surveyed the group that had formed as Sayid and Sawyer continued to fight and spit insults at each other.

"I wasn't going to say a thing."

Four days later…

" I don't think I've ever been so bored in my life."

" All they do all day is sit around and stare at each other."

"I don't think they've realized yet exactly how long we're going to be on this island."

Adam and James lay in the sand with their hats over their faces listening to the sounds of the camp.

Letting out a sigh Adam sat up and brushed the sand out of his hair. He set the cap on his head and stared out at the group. Earlier in the morning one of the women had drowned while out swimming in the water. Boone had almost died trying to save her and Jack had been distraught over the event. Earlier he had seen Jack running frantically into the woods.

A quick movement off to the side caught his eye and he saw Boone dart from behind a tree to Jack's tent, which had been set up for medical purposes. A few minutes later he emerged from the tent with something wrapped in a blanket. Looking around to make sure no one saw him he ran back into the cover of the trees.

Adam sighed, "Boone just took the water."

"Oh good… Well, at least there will be something to watch today. Too bad we already know what happens. Hurley sees Jin with the water. Blames Jin. But Jin got the water from my Sawyer. Everyone blames Sawyer. Surprise, it's not Sawyer either. It's the poor little rich kid Boone. Just trying to be the hero again."

Adam snorted, "I'm beginning to wish that our parents hadn't been so detailed in telling is about what went on around here in the beginning days."

"We have a lot of time on our hands. What would we do if we didn't tell stories? Besides, they probably want us to learn from our mistakes. Don't judge people. Don't jump to conclusions. Don't steal water. Blah, blah, blah."

"Yeah, I guess…" Adam suddenly thought of something and jumped to his feet, "I'm going to go walk around."

"Whatever." James yawned and adjusted his hat.

Adam walked down the beach. He could see his mom sitting in the shade fanning herself. He walked passed her though to catch up with Charlie who was headed further down the beach.

" Hey."

Charlie looked up, "Oh, hey." His eyes were slightly bloodshot and he shoved something further down into his pocket.

Adam noticed for the first time that they weren't too far apart in age. It was weird really. This was his father, or at least the man he knew as his father.

" Where are you going?"

Charlie looked away and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, "Oh, uh, just… no where." He shrugged.

Adam nodded and then looked back to where Claire was now pulling herself to her feet. He looked back at Charlie.

"You know that girl?"

Charlie shrugged, " No… well, her name's Claire. I helped her with her suitcase." He looked back at Adam and smiled suddenly, " I know… I know why you want to talk to me."

Adam raised his eyebrow, "Huh?"

"It's okay, go ahead, you can ask."

Adam looked around in confusion, "Ask what?"

Charlie threw up his hands, "I get this all the time. Bloody fame, you know. I'm in a band. Driveshaft. You all everybody…" He began to sing the chorus of his song and Adam's eyes widened.

"Umm, actually, that's not why I wanted to talk to you."

Charlie stopped singing, "Oh, yeah… well. But you're heard of us, right?"

"Yeah sure. Look, I don't think Claire's feeling all that well. I think someone should keep an eye on her."

Charlie looked over at Claire, "Yeah? She okay?"

Adam nodded, " Yeah, she probably needs some water or something."

Charlie nodded and smiled, "Water, I can get." He began walking toward Claire and Adam watched as he approached her with a smile. Before she could smile back though her face went white and she dropped to the ground. Charlie ran to her side and began calling her name in concern.

Adam slipped back into the trees and watched as Michael and Charlie carried Claire over to the medical tent. After making sure that everything was okay he walked over to where James still lay on the ground.

"I thought we weren't going to mess with things from now on."

"You saw that?"

"Yeah, I saw it. What was the point though? I thought Charlie was the one that helped her anyway."

"He was walking away. If I hadn't stopped him he wouldn't have been there to help her."

James sat up, "So then what stopped him before… I mean, when this happened before… when we weren't here?"

Adam shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe… maybe we are supposed to be here. I mean, think about it. Sayid and Sawyer got into a fight. That's the way we heard the story. Sayid never told us what started it. Maybe it was some "kid" talking to Sawyer."

"Are you trying to say that we were here before?"

"I don't know."

"Dude, this whole thing is making my head spin."

"I think it's just the sun."

"God. When do they find the water?"

"Tomorrow."

"Thank God."

Three days later…

"Hey get up."

"No."

"Get up now."

"You're not my mother. Go away."

Adam clenched his jaw and kicked James lightly in the side.

"Hey!"

"All you've been doing for the past week is sleeping. Now get up."

James scowled and opened his eyes, "And where are we going, mother dearest?"

"I overheard Sayid talking to Kate and Boone. They're going to try and triangulate the signal."

"Triangle whata?"

"Triangulate. They're going to try and get the transceiver to work."

"So what? We already know that it's not going to work."

"No. We don't know that. All we know is that someone hits Sayid over the head before he can get it to work. And we don't know who it is that hits him."

James sat up slowly and looked at Adam questioningly, "And what exactly are you suggesting? That we go and try to solve one of the mysteries of this island? No thanks. Besides I thought we had decided not to meddle anymore."

"We're not going to meddle. We're just going to see who it is that doesn't want Sayid to hear that signal."

James let out a sigh and then pulled himself to his feet. "Why do I get the idea that this isn't going to turn out well?"

Several hours later…

"What the hell is he saying?"

"How would I know? I don't speak Arabic."

"You know, I really wish he hadn't taught it to Nadia. Whenever she gets pissed off she starts muttering in that language. I can't understand a word she says."

"I think that's the point… Now, will you shut up? He'll hear us."

Sayid had left Kate and Sawyer earlier and Adam and James were silently following the Iraqi. Every time they made any kind of noise Sayid would whip around and glance about suspiciously. Adam just prayed that he didn't see them. He had heard enough stories about Sayid's past and his quick temper. He wasn't interested in being on the receiving end of that temper.

They finally stopped near the top of the hill. Adam and James stayed hidden and watched as Sayid set up his bottle rocket, looked at his watch, said a prayer and then lit the fuse. It shot off into the sky and Sayid clasped his hands as he waited for the other two rockets to go up.

Adam looked around trying to see if there was anyone around waiting to attack Sayid. He turned to James, "You see anyone?"

James shook his head, "No… I…" He suddenly got a strange look on his face as first one, and then another rocket appeared in the sky.

"Yes. Yes!" Sayid grabbed the transceiver out of his backpack and turned it on. He held it out and waited for a signal, "Where are you?"

Adam looked around, " I don't see anyone. I don't get it."

James suddenly snapped out of his trance, "Dammit." He began looking around on the ground. Adam turned to watch him.

"What? What's wrong?"

James just shook his head and grabbed a large branch off the ground. Adam stared at him in confusion. Then his eyes widened as he realized what James was about to do. He grabbed his arm, "What the hell do you think you're doing?

James just shook him off, "Someone's got to do it."

Adam watched in mixed horror and shock as James darted out of the trees swinging the stick behind him.

Sayid continued to stare at the transceiver as it acquired a signal, " Yes! Where are you? Where are you?" The snap of a twig behind him averted his attention but all he saw was a blur as the branch made contact with his head. Sayid fell to the ground with a thud and James stood above him breathing heavily.

Adam ran out from the trees, "Are you insane?"

James looked around and held out his hands, "No one else was coming." He threw the stick on the ground, " I'm starting to think that maybe we're supposed to meddle."

Adam opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a crackling of the transceiver. They both looked down at the small instrument and James reached down to grab it. He held it up the same way that Sayid had and waited for the sound again.

Suddenly a voice came over the line, "Hello. Hello. Anybody out there? Mayday, mayday."

Adam and James looked up at each other. James held the transceiver up to his mouth, "Hello!"

Adam rolled his eyes, "Do you even know how that works?

"Shut up. I…"

"Is someone there?"

Adam's eyes widened at the new voice and he grabbed the transceiver away from James, "That was…" He didn't get to finish his sentence as the two voices continued to speak to each other.

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Repeat your transmission please."

"Hello. We're survivors of the crash of Oceanic flight 815, please copy."

"No. We're the survivors of Oceanic flight 815."

Suddenly there was a large crashing noise on one side of the transmission. And then the signal went dead.

Adam and James stared at each other and Adam held the transceiver weakly in his hands.

"Who was that first voice? The one saying mayday?"

James shook his head. "I don't know. But the second voice. I know that voice. It was…"

Adam nodded slowly, "Yeah… It was Josh."

Author's Note: In the next chapter find out where… or when… Nadia and Josh are and why Adam and James heard Josh's voice on the transceiver talking to Boone. Please read and review.