Saying goodbye to their fellow castaways was going to be hard, however, but they were going to do it in style. Boone had used his old business contacts to get them some good deals and they were going to have a farewell party that no one would be forgetting easily. All the survivors had RSVP-ed so it would undoubtedly be an interesting night. Well, everyone but Kate that was, for obvious reasons. Even if someone did know where to send Kate's invite, a get-together of flight 815 survivors would be the first place the FBI would look for her. Jack didn't know how she managed to evade the marshal who was watching her at the hospital but, by her own admission, she'd been on the run pretty much as long as she'd been able to walk so Jack guessed she was doing okay, wherever she was.
"You ready?" Boone asked him.
He turned to look at him. The boy scrubbed up nice. "Sure am," Jack replied. He reached for the car keys but Boone grabbed them.
"I'll drive," he said.
Jack wondered why he was so eager but shrugged it off. "Okay," he said as he grabbed his jacket. "Let's get out of here."
As they arrived, the first person they saw was Sawyer. Well isn't that typical, Jack thought.
"Looky here," Sawyer said as he sauntered up to them. "If it isn't Dr. Jack and his significant other."
"Sawyer," Jack nodded.
Sawyer looked to Boone. "You and sis really did well for yourselves on that island, didn't you? Both hooked yourselves up with some eligible bachelors."
Boone gave him a sarcastic smile but chose to not get involved.
"Speaking of island couples," Jack begun with a smile, "How is Ana-Lucia?"
That earned him a glare. "How do you suppose I know?" Sawyer asked coldly.
Him and Ana were a funny pair, both so insistent on keeping everything a secret, even though everyone else so blatantly knew what was going on. But Jack knew from Shannon that Sawyer and Ana had the same contact number so they'd clearly gotten closer on the island than they were willing to admit to.
"I'm heading to the bar, I'll catch up with your Captain and Tennille routine later," Sawyer said, walking away from them.
Jack looked around the room, every face so familiar to him that he wasn't sure where to start. It was a little strange being in a situation like this with the other islanders. It didn't feel quite real somehow.
"Hey guys, is this cool or what?" Jack turned to see a rather hyper Shannon bounding towards him with a considerably less enthusiastic Sayid lagging behind her.
"You know you really shouldn't be talking drugs in your state, Shan," Boone joked. "Think of the baby."
Shannon play punched him on the arm. "Shut up," she responded. "Besides, chance would be a fine thing. I can't even have a drink tonight. It's been over two and a half years since I had alcohol admittedly but still, a glass of wine with old friends would be nice," she rambled on.
"Another nine weeks," Sayid reminded her.
"Yeah, yeah," she said.
Jack thought her enthusiasm was sweet. She had the air of a little kid around her.
"Well, me and Sayid are gonna do a lap, catch you boys later," Shannon announced, dragging Sayid along with her.
Jack and Boone both stood there, unsure of what to do.
"Drink?" Boone suggested.
"Drink," Jack agreed.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Walt had missed almost three grades by the time they got back to civilisation so Michael had decided that it was probably just best to home school him as he supposed that's what they'd been doing on the island. He still made sure Walt got to hang out with kids his own age though.
"Not that he wants to all that much," Michael admitted. "That kid grew up so much in those two and a half years, it must have been hard having no one but adults to socialise with."
"I think he already had a fair bit of maturity in him," Jack pointed out. "A lot of other kids wouldn't have been able to handle that."
"Yeah, I guess his mother did okay by him," Michael replied, gazing over at Walt who was saying something to Claire that was making her giggle.
"You did okay by him yourself, Michael," Jack assured him. "Under the circumstances I think you did pretty amazing by him."
Michael smiled in thanks but didn't reply. Jack knew how hard it was on Michael when Walt went missing, how much he beat himself up over it. Jack could relate. He took responsibility for everything that happened to everyone on that island. It wasn't easy being responsible for others.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Jin probably had it hardest on the island though, Jack reflected. After Sun was killed it was pretty impossible for him to communicate with anyone. So when he trekked back to base camp with the tail end survivors to find he was just a day too late to ever see his wife again, he couldn't even alleviate his grief a little by talking about it with someone. But he'd managed to pick up some English as he went along. He had to. Miscommunications had too dire consequences on that island.
"Jack," Jin said with a smile, shaking his hand as he bowed his head.
"Jin," Jack greeted back. "How are you?" He made sure to speak clearly, Jin's English was still very rusty.
"Ah, good, good," Jin replied. He motioned to Jack. "You?"
"Couldn't be better," Jack replied. Then added, "Good," just to clarify.
Jin nodded. "Boone?" he asked.
"With Ana-Lucia," Jack replied pointing over. He noticed that Sawyer was starring daggers at Boone's back. That southern idiot sure had some issues. "You staying in America now?" Jack asked, turning his attention back to Jin.
"America? No. Korea. Father," Jin replied.
Father? Jack thought. Strange, he remembered Sun talking about how Jin's father was dead. Maybe he meant Sun's father, he reasoned.
"Good luck," Jack said, hoping he could find some happiness back in his home country.
Jin nodded. "Thank you," he replied. "And you. Boone," he said.
Jack smiled. "Me and Boone are good," he stated confidently.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Hurley was set for life. Who wouldn't be with all those millions. The crazy guy had actually bought himself his own tropical island. One minus the crazies, monsters and polar bears, Jack hoped.
"Oh yeah, I had a team search the place down, nothing weird going on there," Hurley assured Jack. "I'm not making that mistake twice, dude."
"I bet it's nice to enjoy a tropical island without all those threats hanging over your head all the time," Jack stated. "Not that we'd know," he added.
Hurley laughed a little. "No. But I thoroughly intend to find out," he insisted. "Just with a little air-conditioning this time."
"Yeah, those days were too long and too hot," Jack stated. He didn't wish back the days when he was covered in sweat 24 hours a day with no real way to get cleaned. One of the less fun parts of living rough in the south pacific.
"Well, you and Boone are welcome to test out my tropical paradise anytime you want," Hurley informed him. "I'm more than willing to share the Hurley love."
Jack smiled at him. "Good to know," he said. "I might just take you up on that sometime."
"Whenever you want, Doc," Hurley repeated.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"So, what is it you could possibly be doing with yourself now you don't have to kill your own food?" Jack asked Locke, who seemed to be keeping mainly to himself tonight, much like he did on the island.
To be honest, Jack couldn't imagine Locke doing anything other than hunting and tracking and managing to make various useful objects out of bamboo. Even before the crash, Jack couldn't imagine how Locke could possibly have spent his days. How could a man like Locke survive amongst all these buildings?
"Haven't been doing much of anything yet, Jack," Locke admitted. Picturing Locke doing nothing was even harder than picturing Locke doing something mundane. "I've been looking down a few possible avenues though," he continued.
"Oh yeah, and what avenues would those be, John?" Jack enquired.
"Those walkabout tours in Australia. The whole reason I went to Sydney and ended up on that flight. I wanted to take part in one. Now I'm more than qualified to run one," Locke explained.
Jack knew that was true. If he hadn't been on the island they would have probably starved to death. Well, they had the fruit and the fish but big meals would have been few and far between. The group became more experienced at catching the boar without Locke's input as time went on but none of them would have known where to start if it wasn't for him.
"Well, sounds like a dream come true for you," Jack stated.
"Yeah," Locke nodded, a self-assured look on his face. "Yeah, it really is."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Well, apparently the American government bloody hates us so good riddance to them I say!" Charlie held his glass aloft, more than a little tipsy.
Jack smiled. Claire, on the other hand, gave him a nudge.
"Hey, don't be like that," she warned him. She then turned to Jack. "We could have argued the toss and all but we figured it was easier this way. It does make sense, we both have family out there. I guess family is important," she said thoughtfully.
Jack knew what she was thinking. Was real family more important than the people on the island? They were more than family to each other, they were a community, they were a civilisation. As far as they were concerned that island would be their home for the rest of their lives. A sobering thought like that can make people bond.
"I'm going to miss everyone though," Claire admitted. "But it's not like we can't see each other again," she added, sounding a little more cheery. "And Hurley's been offering that island of his round so we'll probably all end up there at the same time."
"Yeah, that sounds like some holiday home he's setting up for himself," Jack conceded.
Claire nodded. "I am looking forward to going back though. I've been talking to my mum a lot on the phone and she can't wait to meet Aaron and do the whole proud grandmother thing," she continued. "I can't wait to show him off either," she gushed. "And his daddy," she said, looking over at Charlie who was attempting to down his pint at Hurley's request.
Sure, Charlie wasn't Aaron's biological father, but pretty early on Claire had started to refer to him as daddy in front of Aaron. And it's not like Charlie was complaining, he took up the challenge with all the commitment and enthusiasm of learning a new guitar solo.
The two of them were so lucky to find each other, Jack thought. And he was sure they were each the opposite of what the other was looking for. Claire wanted to give her baby up, not find a sweet and caring guy who wanted to help her look after him, even if he didn't get anything in return. And Charlie, washed up rock star drug addict, to put it bluntly, probably wasn't out looking for a single mother. But they found in each other exactly what they needed. Sounds familiar, Jack thought. Sounds kinda like him and Boone. They sure weren't looking for each other. But sometimes you don't get what you look for. Sometimes you get something better.
Jack headed outside for some air.