Many years passed, bringing with it more arrivals for the survivors. The twins, now twelve years old, were so similar in appearance, but so different in mind. Both had Kate's deep brown eyes, and Jack's dark hair. Evander kept his short, like Jack's, thus looking more like his father every day, and Evelyn's hair grew thick and curly, exactly like Kate's did, curling down past her shoulder and settling halfway down her back. She had been growing it since she was five years old, and was proud of how long she kept it now. Evander had also taken an interest in becoming a doctor, just like Jack, and this had worried Jack, who was frightened temporarily of turning into his own father, but now he realised the difference between encouragement and sheer force. Evelyn, however, was more interested in arts than science, and was always dancing around the house singing to herself.
Four years after the twins were born, Kate and Jack had another child, Jasmine, who was always trying to be more like her older sister. Sometimes it seemed more like Evelyn and Jasmine were twins than Evelyn and Evander. Jasmine was already showing promising talent with artwork, and had produced so many drawings at the age of eight that used skill rivalling that of a girl twice her age. Then came the Sheppard's final child, Amy, the little toddler, aged one, who was starry eyed and curious.
While Aaron grew into a increasingly handsome thirteen year old, it was clear to see that he was becoming more like his surrogate father, Charlie, more and more. When they had arrived back from the island, Charlie had adopted Aaron, and while Aaron knew about his real father, Thomas, he didn't care to meet him or to think of him as his father, especially seeing as he called Charlie 'Dad'. He looked exactly like his mother, Claire, with his blonde hair and blue eyes that drove all the girls wild at school, of course, and his ambition to be a famous singer wasn't going amiss. Charlie had taught him how to play the guitar himself.
Charlie and Claire had another child of their own, another son, whom they named Taylor. At the age of nine, Taylor looked up to Aaron a lot, but also got on with Jack and Kate's daughter, Jasmine, who was just a year younger than him. The pair went to the same school, and were in the same class, and their mothers were already prediticing the youngsters wedding in their minds.
Shannon and Sayid's child was a daughter, Ashley, who had her father's tanned skin, which Shannon was always envious of, and but she had her mother's blonde hair and fair eyes. They travelled a lot, so Ashley, having just turned twelve herself, was always one for knowing about the history and culture of the countries they visited. It wasn't long before they had another child, a son, whom they named Boone, after Shannon's lost brother. Boone was ten years old now, and Shannon swore every day that he had his uncle's spirit in him when it came to troublemaking.
Sawyer had somehow remained single, returning to his womanising ways and refusing to prove Kate right on her remark that one day he would settle down and raise a family. He was, though, the best choice for a babysitter, which had been discovered back on the island with Aaron when he was young. As much as he claimed to hate kids, the kids sure loved it when mom and dad went out and Sawyer came to babysit.
Walt was now married with a child of his own, Rebecca, who was two years old, but he lived over in LA with his wife, Latisha, and with Michael close by. Sometimes, he would fly his new family out to Sydney to see the family he had when they had lived on the island, but now that Rebecca was growing up, they rarely saw them, but kept in constant touch by email, usually from Michael showing off proud photographs of his grandchild's first steps, first curls, and other firsts.
Locke, although now approaching his eighties, was still around, living just on the outskirts of Sydney. He still visited a lot, especially to see the kids who saw him as a kind of grandfather. Hurley was another frequent visitor, when he wasn't travelling around the world with the remains of his lottery win. They were forever getting postcards from him, and it was Evelyn especially who saved them all, ones from Antigua; Venice; India; Peru; and even the less exotic and charming ones...like Las Vegas.
Once a month, all the survivors available got together for a gathering, which in the summer was usually a barbecue in Kate and Jack's lovely back garden, and in the winter was normally everyone in the garden, or crammed into someone's living room while the kids ran riot.
Jack went downstairs one morning to see that everyone, for once, was up before him. Usually on a monday morning he would hit the alarm, say goodmorning to Kate, before showering and trapsing downstairs with Kate for his coffee and breakfast. Then, half an hour later, the daily struggle to get the kids out of bed, dressed and into school began. He always went into Evelyn's room first, knowing that after he went into Evan's and Jasmine's he'd have to go into Evelyn's again and wake her back up. She loved her sleep more than anything, but when she eventually got out of bed, she was on the go all day.
"Ok. I've walked into another dimension again." Jack declared when he saw all his children up, dressed, eating breakfast, and most suprising, cheerful. He went behind Kate, who was fixing up some coffee, and put his arms around her waist kissing her on the cheek. She handed him his coffee and he sat down between the twins while she began feeling Amy, who was currently smearing her breakfast over her face.
Evelyn and Evan were chatting amongst themselves while Jasmine talked to Kate, and Jack listened quietly. He still wondered what things would have been like if they had never crashed on the island, but he never dwelled on it long, because he knew that those thoughts would mean no Kate, no twins, no Jasmine, no Amy, none of his friends, nothing; simply a dead father, a depressed mother, and an ex wife who still loved him.
Soon the school rush began, and the twins were upstairs putting their things in their bags while Jasmine, already ready to go, sat in the living room on the couch, watching television while Amy played happily on the floor with her toys. Jack stood in the doorway, watching them, and Kate came up behind him.
"Are you gonna remember to pick the kids up?" Kate asked him. Usually Jack took them in the mornings on his way to work, and Kate would meet Jasmine in the afternoons while the twins walked home together or with their friends.However, they knew that if Jack was picking them up and they wouldn't have to walk they'd rather have the lift home.
"Yes, I won't forget them." He assured her with a smile, remembering a time when he had picked Jasmine up, driven all the way home, got into the driveway, and forgotten the twins. "Besides, I'm sure Aaron will grab a lift as well." Aaron was nearly always dropping into their house unexpecantly. Whenever Claire couldn't find her son all she had to do was ring them and Aaron would be found. Jack checked his watch. "They're gonna be late." He sighed.
"You say that every morning, and they never are." Kate laughed, and Jack pulled her close, kissing her gently. When footsteps came stampeeding down the stairs they pulled apart and Jack kissed her quickly.
"See you later." He said. He looked over at Jasmine, who was so engrossed in her television programme that she barely noticed the sound that the twins had made on the stairs. "Jazz, you ready?"
She nooded and stood up, coming over to her parents. Kate hugged her daughter, placing a kiss atop of her head. "Bye sweetie."
"Bye Mommy." She said in the Australian accent which she had picked up through school and from living there all her life.
Kate said goodbye to the twins and the four of them left for school and work. Jasmine got into the passenger seat of the car while the twins sat in the back. Evan leaned straight over and put the radio on, which blasted out some music that Jack didn't know, but had probably heard blaring through the stereo in his sons room before. He turned it down a little bit, but only because at its current volume Jasmine was covering her ears.
"Remember Sawyer's looking after you all tonight." Jack reminded.
Evelyn looked up. "What?" She said. "Since when?"
Jack smiled to himself, there was that selective hearing again. "Since about two weeks ago. It's parents night at your school, and we're all catching a movie afterwards, which leaves you with Sawyer."
"So thats us four, Aaron, Taylor, Ashley and Boone." Evan counted. "Eight of us, one of him."
"Seven of us." Evelyn corrected. "You know that Amy will be on his side no doubt."
"Ok, seven of us, think he can handle it?" Evan challenged.
Evelyn smirked. "Not a chance. What do you think, Jazz?"
Jasmine pounded one fist into the other. "This time he's going down." Jack laughed at his kids.
"Is it too late to tell you to behave?" He asked, looking in the rear view mirror at his twins who were smirking evilly to themselves. All three children nodded, and Jack sighed. He did feel sorry for Sawyer sometimes, especially when he was at the mercy of a whole group of children.
As they pulled up to Evie and Evan's school, they grabbed their bags and were about to hop out of the car when Evan stopped. "Oh Dad, just checking. Brachial artery...pumps thirty litres of blood per minute, and there's only five in the human body?"
Jack nodded. "Yeah thats right, good luck with the exam, guys." He said.
"I think I need it more than he does." Evie said nervously. "He knows everything about science. I only kow the difference between hydrogen and helium because hydrogen doesn't make your voice go all high." She said and Jack laughed.
"Don't worry, honey, you'll do fine."
He watched them disappear into the school, and then drove off towards Jasmine's which was only three blocks away.
"Daddy, what's a personal hero?" Jasmine asked. "I thought it was like, Spiderman, or Batman, but my teacher said it wasn't."
"Well, a personal hero is someone who is your hero." Jack explained.
"Like my own Spiderman?" She asked.
"Not really, more someone you look up to, someone you want to be like. Someone who you think is amazing and wonderful. Thats your hero." He told her.
Jasmine made a face showing she understood. "Oh, who's your hero, Daddy?"
Jack thought hard. It used to be his father, but he had grown out of that a long time ago. Since his teenage years though, it had been one person that he had looked up to and wanted to be like.
"Have you ever heard of Jon Bon Jovi?" He asked her.
"Is that the man that Mummy listens to in the kitchen?" Jasmine asked.
Jack nodded. "That's my hero. Who's your hero."
"It's a secret." She told him dramatically.
They pulled up outside the school, and Jack was ready for the same routine that happened every day when he dropped Jasmine off.
"I love you Daddy, and you love me too, don't you?" She said chirpily.
"With all my heart, sweetie, have a nice day." He leaned over in his seat and kissed her forehead before she jumped out of the car and went into the school. Jack began the drive to his surgery, reminding himself to remember to pick them up.