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: I'm sorry it took so long to update, everything came on at once. xD

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"Crash and Burn"

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The next day, I sat in the car. We had spent a fortune on last minute plane tickets. Anna couldn't go, but it was me, Donnie, mom, dad, Charlie and Claire. And needless to say, I was terrified. I hadn't been on a plane since the one that crashed, and I couldn't do it. I knew I couldn't do it.

I was going to die on the plane, like I was supposed to on the last one. My eyes were closed but my leg still tapped impatiently. "It's gonna be okay Seth," Claire said comfortingly.

"Sure, that's what you say!" I snapped. She wasn't helping, nobody was helping. I felt Claire put a hand on my arm, trying to get me to calm down.

This was just horrible. I didn't want to do this. I couldn't do this.

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Sooner, rather than later (like I had hoped) we were sitting in the airport. We were early. We weren't going on Oceanic. But I still felt quite jumpy. I was sitting in one of the uncomfortable airport seats. This wasn't exactly where I would like to be. Mom was holding Donnie since I was in absolutely no shape to be doing anything.

I was a mess to say the least. "I can't do this…" I kept repeating over and over again.

"Yes you can do this Seth…" my dad said, trying to calm me down.

"No… no I can't. I'm gonna die!" I said, sounding like a panicked little kid.

"You're not going to die Seth!" Charlie said. "Claire and I went back and forth from L.A. to Australia so many times, and we're still here. You'll be fine!"

I had to think for a little bit. He did have a point, but still. I was afraid of what was going to happen when I got onto the plane. I was afraid of what was going to happen when the plane took off. I was afraid of what was going to happen when the plane was in the air. I was afraid that the plane wasn't going to make it to Australia and that I'd be stuck on some shit hole island for another year!

I didn't want that to happen!

"No… everything is just so… it's so similar! And it is scary!" I said, biting my lip and looking at the ground.

"What?" my dad asked.

"Why did I come home? Because I though Ryan had died. Heck, Claire was pregnant. She's freaking pregnant again, and I'm going to Australia because my ex-girlfriend's dad died! Don't tell me that that isn't just a little creepy!"

My dad was silent. I heard Charlie sigh. "We wont let anything happen Seth, promise!" Charlie said with a smile.

I didn't believe him.

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"Good morning, sir. How may I help you?" the lady asked.

"I need two tickets on the soonest plane leaving to L.A." I said quickly and simply.

"Sorry, I can't do that." she said.

"WHAT?" I snapped angrily. They had to be fucking kidding me!

"There is only one ticket left on the flight…" she said.

"Take it Seth…" I heard someone from my left speak up. I turned to come face to face with Aerin. "I'll get on a later flight…" she said.

"Are you—" she cut me off.

"Yes. Take it…"

"I just need a photo identification, a passport and a credit card." the lady said. I nodded and reached into my pocket and pulled out my wallet. I got out the credit card and the School I.D. Now where did I put that passport? I reached around into my backpack and pulled it out of a back pocket.

"One second," she said, taking all three. I turned to look at Aerin.

"Just go Seth, you need it more than I do…" she said, looking straight into me. How could I fight with that? I simply nodded. She grabbed me and hugged me tightly, her blonde hair getting into my face. I hugged her back. She was my foundation, and I leaned on her.

The lady called my attention back to her. "Now I just need your signature here… here… and here…" she said, pointing to three spots on the paper. I didn't worry about reading them, I just signed it.

"Thank you Mr. Cohen. You are on flight 815, and it leaves in… half an hour. I would hurry Mr. Cohen." I nodded a thank you and grabbed Aerin.

"Are you sure…" I asked her once again. She nodded again. "Don't worry about me. I will take care of everything. And I guess that I'll see you in Newport again…it's only a few hour flight." she laughed.

I put my arm around her and we headed over towards the security check. This was where we had to depart. I turned around and looked deeply into her eyes. I had to go home, but I didn't want to leave Aerin. "It's only a few hours Seth…" she said laughing.

I kissed her. Passionately. I just had a bad feeling about all of this. She pushed away. "Just go Seth… you'll miss your flight." she said.

I turned to leave when the thought hit me. "Aerin, can I use your cell phone, one last time?" I asked, giving her the patented Cohen 'pity me' look. It worked and she chuckled as she handed me the phone. Quickly I dialed home. Once again, I got the answering machine, and it only made me worry more.

"Mom… dad… I'm coming home. I'm on Oceanic Flight 815… I'll be home by… well I'm not very good with time zones, but I'll be home soon. Please forgive me…" I hung up and Aerin took her cell phone back.

"You're going to miss your plane silly," she laughed, her accent coming out quite well.

Once again, I nodded and proceeded my way through the security check, trying not to upset myself. This seemed so familiar, but last time… Anna was leaving and I was looking through the glass. Now Aerin was looking at me.

She waved goodbye and I waved as well. Then I turned around and headed towards the gate. There was no turning back now.

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"Seth… Seth are you okay!" I heard my dad saying urgently as he shook my shoulders.

"Yeah, fine…" I said, blinking a few times. What had just happened? I hadn't thought of that moment in a while. Wow, that was a really long time ago.

"You were in a daze Seth…" Charlie said.

"I was… remembering…" I said, a bit disbelieving it myself.

"Remembering?" Charlie and Claire asked at the same time.

"I already remembered this memory," I said quickly.

"Oh," Claire said, sounding a little disappointed. The two of them had been pushing for me to remember stuff that had happened on the island that I obviously didn't remember and obviously didn't want to remember or I would have remembered them.

Everyone was silent for the next few seconds before the man over the PA announced that our flight was boarding.

I was gonna die.

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They got me on the plane with virtually no problems. Of course, they gave me a middle seat. Right in-between mom and dad. Donnie was sitting next to my mom, but she was holding him. I was surprised at everything I was taking in.

I mean, my hands had a death grip on the handles of the chair, and I was pleading with myself to calm down or I just felt like something bad was going to happen.

I wanted off. Now. I didn't care anymore. I wanted off the plane. I was beginning to make myself sick.

"Calm down Seth, it'll all be over soon, I promise. We'll be walking off this plane and you'll be saying how stupid you were for ever being so terrified," I heard my dad's calm and steady voice penetrating into my head, silencing the panicking one in my head if only for a second.

My breaths were deep and ragged as I tried to take in what my dad said and make myself believe it. But the last time I was on a plane, I almost died! I could have died. I was on an island for who knows how long! I could still be there!

"We'll… we'll see when we get there…" I said somewhat bitterly.

I felt my dad put something in my hand. Slowly, my eyes opened to see a water bottle. "Drink some, it'll help you calm down…" I looked at him as if he were from another planet, but slowly opened the bottle and began to drink some.

It was cold going down my throat and had quite an odd taste to it, but I was thirsty, and it was helping me to calm down.

My breathing finally steadied out for what seemed like the first time since we entered the airport. Maybe this wasn't going to be all that bad.

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It felt like forever that we were sitting there, waiting for the plane to take off. I began to get bored. Dad must have drugged the water or something because while I still had this horrible feeling deep down inside of me, I wasn't showing the fear as bad as I was before.

Slowly, I felt my eyelids drooping. I opened them sharply. I wasn't going to fall asleep. The last time I fell asleep on a plane it crashed and 15 out of the 175 people on the plane survived. It was scary. No, I wasn't… I wasn't…

I felt the calm serenity of sleep taking me over, and I couldn't fight it. The sleep took over me and I fell into the peaceful sleep.

Maybe I'd sleep through the whole flight.

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"You all everybody…" The music was blasting in my ears as Shannon shook the hell out of my arm. She pulled the headphones away from my ears. What the hell? Shannon, Boone? What were they doing here? Boone was dead. Shannon was back home with Sawyer.

She shook my arm even harder.

I looked up. The yellow oxygen masks. God I could sleep through anything, couldn't I? Where were mom and dad? And Donnie? And Charlie and Claire. Oh God, this was scary. The damn plane was crashing again. I told him I was going to die!

Quickly, I reached out and grabbed the oxygen mask, securing it over my face.

What was going on? I heard screams, I heard shouts. Everything was shaking. People were shouting for help. I heard people crying. I felt myself being sucked down. The plane was obviously crashing, that was for damn sure.

What had I done to deserve this? I heard something rip, something heavy rip. It wasn't like the now familiar sound of seats ripping out. It was something else. Slowly, I turned my head around as I felt myself now being sucked backwards. I grabbed onto the seat in front of me like Shannon and Boone had.

This was it. I was going to die. I heard screams around me. And it wasn't an "Oh my God the plane is crashing!" scream. They were "Holy shit I was just sucked out of the back of the plane." screams.

I was terrified. My eyes shut, and I tried to block everything out. What was I going to do? I was going to die. Yes, I was going to die. And I'd never see my family again, even though they were supposed to be on the plane with me.

But the plane was going down. Shannon began shrieking. I would have hit her if I wasn't afraid that I was going to die. My brain was doing the same thing that Shannon was voicing. Everything began going numb. I was holding on for dear life, but my grip was loosening. I was going to die.

Suddenly, everything was up in a flash of bright light.

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"Seth, wake up, please!" I heard my mother whispering urgently as my eyes groggily opened. What had happened? I heard myself groan. "Oh thank God!"

"What happened?" I asked, sitting up straight in the seat. I was still on the plane. I was dead. The plane hadn't crashed. I was alive, and my parents were right there. An odd sense of relief washed over me.

"You fell asleep," my dad said. "And you were peaceful for the longest time, but then you… you started freaking out, we didn't know what was happening. It was scary."

I blinked quite a few times. It was a dream. A memory. But it was so much clearer than I remembered it before. I mean I could see and hear everything that was going on, not just snibbits. Looking over at Charlie and Claire, I saw that they were looking at me.

"The plane…" I sighed, leaning back in the seat and looking at the 'roof' of the airplane. "The plane. It crashed," I said, sounding a bit upset as the words just flowed out of my mouth. "But it wasn't this plane. It was the other one. Everything was so clear. It was so real. It was… it was like it was happening all again."

I felt my mom put her hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me, but I had done a pretty good job of actually calming myself down. The only problem was that the scene from my 'dream' replayed in my head over and over again. Like it was on repeat. It wouldn't stop. And I hated that. I hated that a lot.

Suddenly, the plane rattled a little bit and my entire body went rigid. What was that? Were we going to crash?

My dad laughed. It wasn't funny! Slowly, I felt myself being pulled forward. Oh God. He just chuckled some more.

"Welcome back to Australia!" he smiled.

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So obviously, I survived the plane ride. It helped that I slept most of the way, but I had survived it and that was all that mattered. I carried Donnie through the airport. We had a stroller, but I didn't like that thing for some reason.

We walked, and walked and walked. Passing Burger Kings and Starbucks and little magazine stands that sold stuff for an outrageous price. It was horrible. We went past security and I watched as people rushed through, only to get stopped. It was kinda funny.

It was over there on the other side that I spotted the woman. She hadn't changed a bit since Charlie and Claire's wedding. First my mom hugged her, then Claire and Charlie. I didn't know what to do. She looked like such a wreck. Heck, I'd be a wreck too!

I handed Donnie off to mom and walked over to Eliza. We looked at each other for the longest time, before she hugged me. Slowly, I eased up and returned the hug. We stayed like that for what seemed like the longest time.

It was only then that I saw the figure walking up to her. She froze. Crystal blue eyes, long reddish brown hair. But that didn't change the fact that the girl, who I hadn't seen since the day of the crash, was standing right there, in the airport.

Aerin. This wasn't gonna be good?

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A/n: And for any confusion, the 'dream' was actually a more detailed description of the plane crash, since he didn't remember much of it before. Only bits and pieces of the plane crash up to after he woke up not remembering anything.

IY-ROX - Yes, Donnie is a boy… He is going to be two…

Swede85 - I'm tryin'

Volvic - Wow, are you psychic?

DeuCu628 - I'm trying, but when I am writing it alone, there is no one to push me to update it. Haha.

emogeek1 - that's good.

Abby - Huh?

Harper's Pixie - Yes…