Discovering Memories

Rating: PG-13 for language

Disclaimer: I own crap. They wouldn't even give me the bloody Lost poster at Disney, and that ruined my day. FOX owns all OC characters and OC related thingys… and ABC owns sobs all Lost related things… even my Charlie…

Summary: It's almost been two years since the rescue, and everything seems so different to Seth Cohen. Everything is great, except for Aerin and the fact that he can't remember what happened before. How far is he willing to go to get both of them back?

A/n: This shit is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S! At this point in time, Seth is 20, almost 21… and Donnie is… uh… 22 months old.

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"Almost Perfect"

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Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing…

What? My eyes opened so slowly it wasn't even funny. And it was dark. Very dark.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing…

All right, all right! I rubbed my eyes with my hands and rolled over and grabbed my cell phone.

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I just stared at the front of it for what seemed like forever. "Shannon's Cell" was flashing on it. What did she want?

Before the damn thing could ring again I flipped it open. "Hello?" I asked, sounding half dead.

"Seth?" she asked, sounding really upset.

I didn't respond at first as I turned over to look at the clock. Three AM.

"Do you know what time it is?" I asked irritably.

"I'm sorry, but… but… I needed to talk to someone, and you were the only person I could think of that wouldn't mind that much…" Correction, she sounded really upset.

I yawned loudly. "I'm up, what's wrong?" I asked.

Crying was heard on the other end. "Shan, if you don't tell me what's wrong, I… I can't help you." I sighed. This wasn't the first time that Shannon had called me in the middle of the night or morning as the case may be. The first time she called, she called the house phone and woke up dad, not a good story. I thought it was funny, neither of them seemed to.

That was why she now called my cell.

She took a deep breath. "Can I… can I come over, please, I need… I need to talk to someone." I was about to say something, when she interrupted me, "And not over the phone."

I knew she didn't live that close to my house, but she could already be driving.

"Just be careful, okay Shan?"

"Okay," she said, before hanging up.

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I was beginning to get worried when it was 7 AM and Shannon still had yet to arrive. Of all the people from the crash (that weren't living near me), she was the only person that really visited often. She and Sayid split not too long after getting rescued, but as far as I know they're still good friends.

I had the TV on and all that was on were those lousy infomercials that are selling stuff that no one is ever going to want. They were somewhat interesting, I guess. Okay, not really, they were really boring.

I looked at the clock again. 7:02. I could always call Ryan and Summer, but they were probably in class. Damnit.

I could wake up Sawyer, but he'd be pissed, and pissed Sawyer isn't much fun. So I just sat on the couch and watched the stupid infomercials, hoping that Shannon would get here soon, or at least call.

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It wasn't that long until Shannon arrived. I could hear her car pull up into the driveway. But no door slam, no nothing. Slowly, I got up and walked over to the door, leaving the infomercial all to its lonesome.

I opened the door and saw Shan's car, with her inside of it. I was glad that she was okay.

Slowly, I walked over to the car and sat down in the passenger's seat.

"What wrong Shan?" I asked. Her head was just resting on the steering wheel. I reached over and pulled the keys out of the ignition. She didn't answer me.

"Shannon, why won't you talk to me?" I asked, trying to get her to talk. It didn't work. I sighed loudly. I didn't really know what I could say to make her talk. "Please Shannon, you're scaring me… what happened?"

I heard her whisper it, but I didn't know exactly what she had said. "Come on Shan," I said, rubbing her back. I needed her to talk.

She sighed and I could hear a sniffle. "My step-mom kicked me out…" she said simply. I knew that wasn't all of it. It was really getting to me. Shannon knew she could trust me. That must have been the only reason why she called me and came over.

"That's not all of it Shannon," I said simply in response.

She looked over at me. I could see the mascara stains down her face. She must have been crying for a while. "Remember Dave?"

"Your boyfriend?" I asked. She nodded in response.

"He… he… he hurt me…" she blurted out. Before I could control myself I pulled her into a half hug (seeing as that was all that was possible in the front seat of a car) but I could still feel her muscles tense up.

"I'm so sorry Shannon."

"What are you sorry for? He was an asshole." She said, with a slight forced chuckle.

"Because, you deserved so much better than that," I said. The words that came out of my mouth were the first things into my mind.

She sniffled and looked like she was about to start crying again. "Shannon?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do!" she said, letting the tears break. "My step-mom won't let me back in, because she keeps blaming me for Boone, and I can't go back to L.A. I just… I don't know what to do…"

I took a deep breath. "Don't worry about it Shannon. You can stay with us until you get back on your feet." I knew I wouldn't mind, my parents didn't care either. Then there was the fact that there was Charlie, Claire, Sawyer, my parents and me that could help her.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief. Did she really think I wasn't gonna let her stay.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." I said, letting her go.

"You can sleep in the guest room and just hope Dave doesn't' ever show his face around you again, okay? Sawyer'll teach him a lesson…"

She laughed, genuinely.

"Some things never change, do they Seth?"

"Nope."

She smiled and slowly got out of the car.

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After Shannon got settled in the guest room, she was quick to fall asleep.

And I was still tired. So I climbed up the steps to my room and collapsed in my bed. I was gonna sleep until noon.

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Noon came much faster than I expected. Like five minutes later.

"Daddy," I heard. Donnie. He had a knack for coming in right when I needed sleep the most.

"Yes Donnie?" I asked turning around to look at him. God, he was growing into a mini-me, more and more. For some reason I could only really see myself in him. Aerin wasn't really seen in him, but he acted like her sometimes.

Sometimes I missed Aerin, but it had been so long since she just ran. Donnie was my son, and only my son. She didn't really raise him as much as I did.

The boy didn't say a word as I looked at him standing in the doorway of my room, sucking on his thumb, and holding Captain Oats in the other hand. I couldn't help but smile. "Come here," I said.

He scurried over to me. "Now why aren't you in bed Donnie?"

He shrugged and I laughed. "Good reason," I said, trying to be serious. He smiled slightly. He wasn't very talkative which was very odd, but I did get him to say "grandma" and "grandpa" as well as "daddy." That was about the extent. I knew he knew more words, because he understood a lot of what I was saying, he just didn't vocalize that.

I was a little worried, but he had time yet. He wasn't a very talkative kid. He must have gotten that from Aerin.

"Do you want to sleep with daddy?"

Donnie nodded his head vigorously and I smiled.

"Okay, now we're gonna sleep, okay?"

He nodded sleepily before curling up into a ball next to me. The sun was slowly beginning to rise, but I didn't care. Donnie fell asleep pretty quickly, still holding Captain Oats tightly. That horse got a lot of wear.

I couldn't believe how much and easily I had gotten accustomed to the fact that I was a father. At first, I didn't think I could handle it. But Donnie was just, Donnie. Even as a baby he began to grow on me, and I learned quickly.

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My eyes opened groggily to the sound of crying. I had just gotten off of Shit-Hole Island and so lovingly told by Summer that I had a son. A son. For crying out loud, how the hell did I get a son? I got up slowly and walked over to the crib (that I didn't notice in my room before).

I recognized it. We had it in the attic. It was the old crib, from when I was a baby. At least that was what mom said when I asked about it when we were moving out.

Looking down into it, I saw a little baby. Okay, maybe not little, but it was a baby, that was for sure. This must have been my kid. Me, with a kid? I couldn't believe it. When I had I been so stupid and irresponsible to end up with a kid?

Obviously he was Aerin's son. I could see her in him. Aerin. I wondered where she was. I hadn't seen her at all. And if this was her son, then obviously she should be around here somewhere, right?

The kid continued crying. No one was coming. Even though I didn't know what to do, the crying was getting really really annoying so I picked up the baby. He wasn't as heavy as I thought he was going to be.

I was still very lost as to what to do with a baby, so I began rocking my arms. He cried louder. Shit. This wasn't going to work, what was I going to do? I had a son. Holy shit.

"Uh… umm… yeah…" I said just as Summer walked in.

"I see you're up," she said.

"Yeah." I responded.

Cue awkward silence. I hated awkward silences. They were so awkward.

"Having some trouble Cohen?" she asked.

"Yeah," I stated truthfully. She giggled and took the bundle of a baby from me and slowly began walking around and singing softly.

I had never heard her sing before. It wasn't really that bad. I've heard worse come out of my mouth.

She sat down on my bed.

I remained standing. This was really awkward. Summer was holding MY kid, but it wasn't her kid. It was Aerin's right? It had to have been.

"Seth," she said quietly as the baby settled down.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"His name is Donnie."

"Donnie?" I asked with a laugh. "As in Donald?"

"Donald Ezekiel Cohen…" she responded.

More silence.

"So he's my kid then."

"Yeah."

Shit.

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Now looking back on it, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Donnie, or Donald (oddly he didn't answer to Donald. I didn't blame him), was really just amazing. I learned so much from my mom and Summer and even Claire at times that I didn't think I could handle it.

But I could, and now, he was just, my kid. My son. And I loved him.

The only problem was, Aerin never came back. Mom explained to me that she just left about four months before we were rescued and we never heard from her since. Her family didn't hear from her either. She just fell off the face of the earth.

Sometimes I missed her, and other times, I didn't.

Right now was one of those times. I twirled my finger around Donnie's brown curls and looked at the wall. This was a perfect life. Well, almost perfect. There were two things missing. Two things.

The stranded memories and Aerin. And both were bound to come back sometime. Things like that had to come back. Slowly, I drifted off to sleep.

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A/n: I know how this is gonna end, I just don't know… how to get there. I hope you liked that. In the next chapter will be mainly about Donnie (because I love Donnie… xD), and will feature "Sticks" and "Asshole"… tee hee… gotta love Sawyer.

alexis - Yes, the rest are in their respective homes.

paige fan - Haha.

The Pirate Illusionist - Yeah, I noticed that to, and I fixed it. I was exhausted from work… sorry.

snoopy - I incorporated it into this chapter. :D

IY-ROX - Yeah, it does seem wrong.

Volvic - yes, the show goes on… Sayid isn't dead. I couldn't kill Sayid, I love Sayid. Michael died, for some reason… I haven't gotten that far yet. As for Walt… Walt was taken in by his… step-dad. And yes, Sawyer in the pool house. We'll see his direct influence on Donnie and Shannon in the next chapter. I messed up the survivors list. Hence why Sayid wasn't on it and neither was Shannon. I was half dead while typing it up.

Please read and review! It's the reviews that keep me writing quickly!