A Mother's Blessing

Aaron sat by himself. Taylor had gone back to the caves with Jack a little while ago. The moon was full and Aaron held something in his hand, carefully fingering it as if it were precious to him. The calm rocking of the waves was the only noise he could here until he heard footsteps behind him. He quickly dropped the item he had into his shirt pocket before turning to see him mother.

"Jeez mom. You scared me half to death." Aaron put a hand over his chest as if to calm his beating heart.

"I didn't mean to scare you." The Australian woman said. "I saw you and Taylor tonight." She said simply.

"Yeah, so?" Aaron didn't quite know what Claire was getting at. "What about it?" He asked defensively.

"You just seemed happy that's all." Claire stared at the moon and propped herself on her elbows.

'We are happy,' Aaron thought. The two of them had always been happy together. He couldn't remember a time when he and Taylor hadn't been happy together. He had known her for practically his whole life and they had always gotten along. He wasn't surprised that feelings derived from being together so much.

He and Taylor had been seeing each other seriously for over a year now. They didn't know why they didn't want anyone to know they were just romantic like that. Aaron assumed people knew just because they lived on a small island and word got around fast. Besides they gave hints like every now and then to family members and friends. In fact they had kissed each other before in front of Christy and Noah. He was guessed they knew already though.

"I saw what you had in you hand." Claire finally owned up.

"You did?" Aaron asked somewhat disappointed. Claire nodded. He pulled it out of his pocket and laid it in him mother's hand.

It was a ring. A very beautiful ring in her opinion. It had a gold band and a piece of carefully cut quartz welded on top. They had discovered quartz was quite prosperous on the island and used if for many things. In this case Aaron had used it on an engagement ring for Taylor.

"You really love her don't you?"

"Yeah, Mom, I do." Aaron took the ring back and slid it on his finger as far as it would go.

"How long did it take you to find that?" Claire had thought that maybe he got it from Sawyer's stash of collectibles or something.

"Oh, I didn't find it. Sayid helped me make it."

Claire smiled. "You made her that ring." Aaron nodded this time. "When are you going to ask her?" Claire shifted positions again.

"On her birthday." He answered simply.

Claire looked at her son with great pride. She knew this was coming. That he would grow up someday and want to start a family of his own. She just never thought it would be this soon. He was twenty-one but she felt like those twenty-one years had gone by in a heartbeat.

Claire stood on the beach and watched a six year old Aaron play at the water's edge. He seemed so happy, so content just running from the water. Her hair blew in the wind and she brushed it out of her face. She could see Aaron was now sitting at the water's edge letting the waves crash on him. He was pushed back by massive waves but quickly got up and went to sit back where he was only to have the process start all over again.

Claire smiled. He was so enchanting to her. He was this tiny person who was part of her and always would be. She loved him more than any other person on the face of the planet. She loved him more than any other person should be allowed. But it didn't matter. He was there with her and he loved her back. Her thoughts traveled back to before they were stranded on the island. How she was going to give him up.

She frowned at the idea of ever giving him up. She didn't even know how the thought even crossed her mind. Look at all of the things she would have missed at she given him up. She would have never gotten to hold him, feed him, watch him sleep so peacefully it almost made her cry, she would have never gotten to play with him, she would have never gotten to love him.

Aaron turned around and waved at her. "HI MOM!" He yelled. Then he went back to playing in the water. God, how she loved him.

Claire snapped out of her thoughts and turned toward her son. "Aaron, if you want to marry this girl…you have my blessing."

The sides of Aaron's mouth tugged into a small smile. "Really?" He asked to make sure.

"Of coarse. I love you and you will always be little boy, my baby but I want happy and if you're happy with Taylor then far be it from me to stop you." She kissed his forehead and got up. Aaron still sat there after she left.

He sighed. He had one parent's blessing now all he had to do was ask Jack for Taylor's hand. He didn't think it would be right to just come out and ask her to marry him if people truly didn't know they were in love. So, he made it a priority to make his way up to the caves first thing in the morning.