Author's note: Ok as the title suggests everything changes in this chapter. Hey remember how the other chapter start off one way and ends another, yeah I did that on propose. Don't worry the next chapter will be updated soon. You won't need to wait as long as you did for this chapter. I love the scenes with Daniel, but that's just me.
There are a lot of songs I need to give credit too so bear with me, if you don't want to read it skip down to the story.
"Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-lot
"You'll Accompany Me" by Bob Seger
"Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash
"American Girl" by Tom Petty
'Son of a Preacher Man" Dusty Springfeild
"I will Survive" by Gloria Gainor
"Sloop John B" by Beach Boys
"I love Rock and Roll" Joan Jett
ENJOY!
Far from the sandy beach where the air hangs thick with salt, two men stand in a steel room. It would have been cold and sterile had it not been for the numerous rocks and hand scribbled pictures that lined the walls.
Charlie's nails were gnawed raw as he paced back and forth in the room. "It's broken."
"It's not broken." A ridiculously calm voice stated.
"Yes, it is. Look! One is end larger than the other. Broken." Charlie waved the tie in Jack's face as if offering some proof.
Jack made a noise a lot like a sigh and a laugh blended together, "That's the way it's supposed to be."
"Well, its stupid." He crossed his arm, flopped on the edge of the bed and huffed.
Jack scratched at his face, "Are you telling me you don't know how to tie a tie?"
Charlie stared at the fabric in his hand and offered an excuse, "I had people to do that sort of stuff for me."
Sometimes Jack forgot how much Charlie had once had, and lost. "Here, I'll teach you how." He stood before Charlie and tied the object on himself at first, step by step. The younger man was impressed by the speed and craft in which the knot was made. "You try."
Charlie fumbled with the silk a few times and made something that looked sort of like a knot. Jack frowned and repeated the process again. "Are you nervous about tonight?" inquired Jack. "It you're first performance in a while."
"No, I'm more worried about the kids and their recital, Claire walking the four miles with a baby and how Daniel's going to react to her and how everyone will react to each other, but performing that's a piece of cake." Charlie continued to fumble with the tie, each time making slightly more progress.
The door flung open and a tiny person came running in, "DAD!"
Charlie turned his head to the voice. When Daniel realized his dad wasn't alone, he stopped in his tracks and looked at Jack curiously, before quickly clinging to Charlie's pants leg.
"Daniel, this is your uncle Jack. He's like my big brother."
Daniel continued to study Jack, until the adult felt uncomfortable and waved to the child.
"What's up Little Man?" Charlie neatened Daniel's dark hair.
The child's eyes became wide, "Guess what?"
"Jason ate a bug again?"
The child shook his head violently, "No the ghost's back! It's in Miss Jo's room and the ghost's screaming for James."
Jack turned away from the child as his shoulders started to shake as he suppressed his laughter. It had been four days since Charlie told Jack the story about the ghost in Beth's room and now it had been sort of an inside joke at the beach. Beth's new nickname became Casper.
Charlie smiled at his son, "Really?"
"Dad, when do you think there's going to be a ghost in my room?"
The comment left his lips before he could stop it, "Not until you're sixteen."
"But why do I have to wait so long?" Daniel whined.
"You'll be asking yourself the same question when you're sixteen." Charlie stated rather flatly, "Did you clean your room? Aaron's going to sleep there tonight with you."
Daniel frowned, "yeah, he better be worth it. I had to clean my room for a whole FIVE minutes."
"Yeah that must have been rough." Charlie laughed, "Do you need help getting dressed?"
Daniel rolled his eyes, "Dad, I'm a big boy now, I don't need help."
Charlie threw his hand up in mock defeat, "Ok, Little Man, come back when you're done. Your clothes are on the bed." When the child had left the room, Charlie turned to Jack, "I guess you didn't come alone?"
"No, Sawyer walked the path with me too, he seemed nervous for some reason."
"Maybe it has to do with the fact the first time he saw Jo's father, he shot Sawyer." Charlie mumbled and he continued to fight with his tie. He glanced up at Jack, who was milling around the room. He had a lot on his mind. Jack was supposed to come up the path and to make sure it was still clear and safe. He also wanted to meet with Jacob for a few minutes. He was also in charge of delivering Charlie a white shirt and his black tie from Jin.
Nothing comes free on this island, the clothing cost Charlie a half an hour of his time and certain lessons for Jack and Jin that would make their respective woman very happy. Before he left for the Community that morning, Kate sprinted across the beach, threw herself in Charlie's arms and thanked him. She was indeed a very happy woman.
Beth knocked on the door, "Hey Charlie, your guests are starting to arrive."
"Hey Casper." Jack waved, which earned Charlie a death glare from Beth.
Charlie left his bedroom, knocked on Daniel's door that yelled he wasn't ready yet and continued out the main living area to the outer field where everyone was supposed to converge. As if in one big flock, the survivors from Flight 815 stood in the middle of a busy community. After all, there was safety in numbers.
Jacob greeted the group. "Hello and welcome. Please feel free to walk around the village, speak to anyone you want, you'll find everyone extremely helpful."
Charlie came up behind him and slapped the elder on the shoulder. "But be warned, one of the rooms contains a flesh eating virus. Unfortunately, the sign fell off last week and we just haven't gotten around to putting it back up."
Eyes collective and in unison shot open across the crowd. Jacob smirked, "He's kidding, we put the sigh back on this morning. " He gestures with his hands wildly, 'Welcome everyone, to my home."
Slowly people start to disperse, the crowd parted and Claire, with Aaron in her arms, stepped forward. Charlie's mind searched for a proper word for how she looked, 'stunning' was all he could come up with. She was wearing a light blue dress Charlie wanted to question why would she wear a dress if she were going to be hiking four miles, but thought better of it. The dress fit her form and hugged her hips before it flowed down to her knees. It must have been one of Shannon's old dresses because it was nothing Claire had ever worn before. Her hair was straight, soft and flowing, making him want to touch it. Being caught up in the moment, he lost all ability to speak.
"Hi, Charlie." She stepped forward and kissed him lightly.
He said nothing.
Jacob glanced at Charlie, then Claire, "You must be Claire. I've heard so much about you, I feel like we're family."
Charlie still didn't speak.
Claire shifted a glance between Charlie and Jacob, "You must be Jacob. Charlie speaks highly of you." She shifted Aaron on her hips, "And this is Aaron." She waved his arm with her free hand.
"Look at you." Jacob stared at the child, "May I hold him?" Claire nodded, "You've gotten so big." The child grabbed at his beard and tugged at it, "Oh! And look at your clothes." It was a blue shirt made from one of Charlie's old tee shirts and pants from the same fabric. "Your mom must have worked very hard on that."
Claire tapped Aaron's nose lightly, "And if he knows what's good for him, he won't grow out of them. It took me a week to make this."
Suddenly and rather loudly all verbal communication started to function again, "You look amazing."
Claire took her child back from Jacob, "Me or the baby?"
Charlie shook off his awe for a moment, "You. You look amazing." He repeated softly.
The tenderness in his voice made Claire blush as she pushed her hair back with her free hand.
Jacob cleared his throat, "Why don't you show Claire your house?"
Charlie blinked with confusion, "You mean Michael's house."
Jacob shook his head and headed back into the sanctuary of his office, "No, I didn't."
But the idea didn't really sink into Charlie's mind; he was too distracted by Claire and Aaron sharing his other world. Besides, there would be plenty of time later to contemplate the meaning. Charlie grabbed Claire's free hand, "Come on, there's someone I want you to meet."
As they walked to the living areas Charlie questioned Claire about her hair, 'Why does it look so nice?"
A slightly devilish grin crossed her face, "Did you know there are blow dryers on this island? All I had to do was give a quick lesson on something else that begins with the word 'blow'…"
"Claire!" Charlie screeched in horror.
She shrugged, "What?"
Charlie rolled his eyes and gave her a warning glance to watch her mouth as he knocked on the steel door. "Hey Little Man, there's someone here who wants to meet you."
Daniel was standing in the center of his room. The walls were covered in hand drawn pictures of dinosaurs. There were a few pictures of a little boy holding the hand of a large man, which Claire assumed was Charlie and Daniel.
The child was lost in his shirt. One shoulder puffed up much higher then the other one and, of course. the bottom of that half of the shirt was much higher then its counterpart. Daniel was fighting with the buttons; he had the third button in the first buttonhole. He looked up at Charlie with defiance, "It's broken."
Charlie smiled, "The shirt isn't broken, here let me help." He kneeled in front of the child as he rebuttoned the shirt. Daniel peered over Charlie's shoulder, studying Claire, forming his opinion.
"Is that her?" Daniel asked mysteriously.
"Yep, that's Claire and Aaron."
Aaron's head turned when he heard the new voice. The baby's eyes grew wide and he started to fuss in Claire's arms.
Daniel nodded with approval, "she's very pretty."
"Yes, she is." Charlie agreed softly.
Claire struggled with Aaron, until she finally put him down on the ground. At this point in his life, he is slightly mobile, crawling on the beach, standing by holding on to either his mother or dad's leg. Aaron stood on shaky legs not clinging to his mom. Claire watched him curiously, but found her vision getting blurry and her cheeks getting damp. Her words were caught in her throat.
Daniel continued to watch Aaron over Charlie's back. "Dad, you said Aaron couldn't walk."
Charlie busy dressing Daniel, he corrected the child, "Aaron can't walk yet. He's too little."
Daniel shook his head, "Nope, he's walking right now." A tiny finger pointed over Charlie's shoulder.
Charlie turned his head in the direction of the finger. Each tiny step was a triumph. Aaron's chubby baby legs stomped down on the floor, bringing him closer to his goal.
Aaron reached out and touched Charlie when his balance was compromised, but he continued until his odyssey was over. He grabbed Daniel and touched his face.
Daniel should have been taken back by the physical assault by the baby, but instead he took it for what it was. After all, this was Aaron's first time he had seen anything his size before.
"Hi." Daniel studied Aaron.
Aaron smiled, unable to speak yet.
Their connection was instant.
Claire and Charlie exchanged glances; the meeting was a success.
Moments ticked to hours and it was time for the recital. A sea of chairs and a small stage, created to look like a wave, transformed the field where most of the Community played various sports or watched plays. Charlie had nearly four separate heart attacks when they came to move the piano from the safety of the music room to the stage.
Slowly the adults started to fill the seats. Backstage, this really wasn't backstage because it was only a good ten feet away from the piano, the children milled around with their own preshow jitters.
Charlie took the stage with Daniel by his side, "Ladies and Gentleman of the Plane Crash Clan, BlackRock and the Community, I would like to welcome you to the first annual children's recital." There was a smattering of applause. "The first person who will be playing tonight is our youngest artist," Charlie stated with an obvious level of pride as Daniel took the stage.
The child looked out at the crowd and when he saw Beth he waved and shouted, "GUESS WHAT MISS BETH?" He waited for her to respond, when she didn't he continued, "AARON WALKED TODAY! HE WALKED TO ME! DAD'S SAYS I MADE HIM WALK."
Beth called back, "THAT"S GREAT!"
He nodded, when he found Claire and Aaron in the crowd, who happened to be sitting near Beth, he waved with his arms extending, "HI, AARON! HI, MISS CLAIRE." They waved back and Charlie ushered Daniel to the piano, whispering last minute coaching tips. Daniel tapped at the keys, playing a very recognizable "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", but when he played the song backwards, the crowd cheered. Daniel's toothy grin lit up the stage far more than his song a few minutes ago. He bowed and walked into the audience to sit next to Claire, a seat he had chosen himself.
The rest of the performance went on; sailing in safe waters on a breezy spring day, but Charlie stood up and addresses the audience one last time. "Josh is going to deviate from the traditional path." Charlie cleared his throat, "I need to remind you that standing up in front of adults can be very intimidating for a ten year old, and singing unaccompanied by an instrument is really one the most diffucuilt things a person can do. If any of you laugh, you're burning in hell."
Charlie put his hand on Josh's shoulder, who clearly had no fear about his future, "Remember, its not you, it's the song you're singing."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Jason took center stage, "this song goes out to my pretty lady, Kate." He turned his fingers into guns and winked at her. Kate, who was just a face in the audience a few seconds before, blushed. Jack, sitting next to her, smirked.
Josh took a deep breath and started to sing, "I like big butts and I can not lie…"
The crowd reaction was nearly instant and a wave a changing emotions. First was shock, is he really singing that? To Kate? Then questioning, "Why would he be singing that to Kate?" All eyes turned to her, who was now turning several shades of red. The next wave of emotion was fear, how could they possibly hide their laughter?
Jack pursed his lips back, trying with all of his energy to suppress his own laughter, his whole body became tense.
Sawyer made a noise, and caught his laughter in his throat as it choked him. His hands covered his ever-growing smile.
Hurley's head quickly shot to the floor, masking his tight face and teeth from the rest and his shoulders started to shake every so slightly.
Beth leaned in next to Claire, "Is he really singing about what I think he is?"
Claire closed her eyes and nodded.
But Josh continued, rap dancing and selling this with all the intensity of Sir Mix-a lot him. "My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hun."
Now a new tension filled the room, who was going to crack first?
Even money was on Sawyer whose shoulders were shaking violently.
But it was the dark horse who crossed the finish line first. Mr. Eko snorted and coughed and finally laughed.
Kate took it upon herself to save young Josh from humiliation. She stood up, push passed Jack and Sawyer who could no longer hide their laughter, walked on stage and started to dance with Josh.
Josh was the only student who received a standing ovation from the audience and was the superstar of the Community.
Since entertainment was being provided by the Plane Crash Clan and the location provided by the Community, BlackRock brought the food. Tables were set and groups were formed. When Kate walked in, Jack and Sawyer sang, "Baby Got Back!" and the two men high fived.
Kate glared at Charlie, "You're a dead man, Pace."
"How do you know I taught him the song?"
"Because he rapped it with a British accent!" Kate bellowed and threw a roll at Charlie.
The set up was simple; kids tables were in a different room, several large tables for adults. Food, good company and light conversation quickly eased any brief discomfort for the guests.
Aaron stayed in either Charlie's, Claire's, Sawyer's, or Kate's arms for most of the night. After a while, Daniel marched over. Paper and crayons were slapped on to the table before he crawled up onto Charlie's lap. He announced, "I thought Aaron would like to color with me."
Daniel pushed paper and a few crayons over to Aaron, who proceeded to try to eat them. Daniel shook his head, "No, you can't eat those, and you'll poop blue." Snickers and laughter filled the table from the adults; there was nothing as clear and logical as a child's thought process.
A thunderbolt of memories hit Daniel. He stopped drawing his T-rex and looked up at Charlie, "Which one is Mr. Sawyer?"
Sawyer sipped his water, his arm causally over Jo's shoulder, "I am, Daniel."
"Oh, you're my favorite because you saved my Dad's life." Daniel's voice was sweet and honest, it caught Sawyer off guard. Sawyer became flustered and his hair fell in front of his face to hide any inklings of emotion.
Charlie stepped in trying to take some of the attention away from Sawyer, "You know, Uncle Jack saved my life once too. And if you want to get technical about it, so did Mr. Locke."
Daniel turned his body and placed his tiny hands on Charlie's face, "You get hurt a lot. You need to be more careful."
Charlie nodded and kissed Daniel on his forehead. "I will be, Little Man."
The rest of the evening ticked on. Daniel continued to draw his dinosaurs, ceremoniously handing them over to people around the table. Miss Claire was the first to get a picture, because she was the prettiest. Sawyer was next, his picture was a T-rex, and he found himself looking between the picture and the child occasionally with a curious expression on his face. He was caught between fully understanding parenthood and being equally terrified of it.
Whenever Daniel was finished with a crayon, he placed it down on the table within arm's reach of Aaron, who would try to eat it. Eventually the over stimulation of the people, noises, colors and music became too much for Daniel and drawing stopped being fun and started to be a chore. He promised everyone else he would draw pictures tomorrow.
He rested his head on Charlie's chest, watching Claire and Aaron. Aaron yawned and with sleep in his eyes nuzzled against Claire. Daniel felt the warmth of Charlie's arm wrapped tightly against his body, protecting him from falling. He watched at his dad's free hand stroked Claire's back in small circles. He thought he shouldn't be watching this and yet it the he wanted to be part of this thing, this intangible thing. It was a feeling, a warm blanket.
Family.
He had heard the word used before, but until now he had never fully understood meaning.
Daniel started to rub Charlie's tie against his face, liking the way it felt against his skin. He listened to Charlie's voice as he spoke to the adults about boring adult things. Daniel was content to sit here, listening to Charlie, rubbing the tie against his face, and feeling Charlie's heart beat through his shirt.
A tiny fist rubbed at tiny blue eyes. Charlie moved his head, "You getting sleepy Daniel?"
"Noooooo" the "o" lingered in the air, sleepy until it finally disappeared.
"You sure?"
A tiny head nodded against his chest, "Five more minutes."
Charlie agreed knowing full well Daniel wouldn't last the full five minutes. Sure enough two minutes later Daniel pulled on Charlie's tie and whispered in his ear. Sleepy Daniel normally became Shy Daniel too.
Charlie nodded and asked seriously, "Do you want me to ask her or do you want to?"
Daniel didn't speak but pushed his finger into Charlie's breastbone. "Claire would you like to help me put Daniel to bed?"
Sweetly Claire responded, with a sleeping Aaron in her arms, "I would love too."
As they left the table, Amy leaned into Kate, "She's," pointing over to Claire, 'in for a treat. Watching Charlie put Aaron to bed is the single hottest thing on this island."
The man sitting next to Amy, his arm protectively around her shoulder, "Hi, I'm you're husband, have we met?"
"Look I'm just saying if I wasn't pregnant before, I was shortly after watching Charlie." Amy laughed her defense as she sipped her water.
Charlie helped a very sleepy Daniel change into his clothes, while Claire put Aaron in the old community crib which was brought out of storage for Aaron's stay. The child climbed into bed and strained as if he was climbing a great mountain. He flopped with great force into his blanket.
Charlie brushed back his son's hair, "What was your favorite part of the day?"
His eyes closed his voice soft, "Meeting Miss Claire and Aaron. He was worth cleaning my room for. I liked it when he walked."
In a voice no louder then a whisper he response, "That was my favorite part too."
Claire sat down on the edge of the bed, "I liked that Aaron has a new friend and I liked the song you played."
A tiny proud smile crossed the dozing child's face. Charlie kissed Daniel on the top of his forehead, "Good night Little Man."
"'Night Dad, and Miss Claire. Good night Aaron." Daniel rolled over and quickly fell asleep.
Claire entwined her fingers with Charlie's as he shut out the lights and closed the door.
"Alone at last." He growled low and lead her to his room, "Did I tell you how amazing you look tonight?"
She laughed, "Many, many times." He kissed her neck as he pushed open the door with his foot. She tried to break away from his embrace, "Charlie, I need to talk to you."
"Sure, just let me keep doing what I'm doing." His lips feverously tasted her neck as his arms ensnared her tighter, "God, how long has it been since I kissed you, like seven years?"
"You left this morning, it's only be a few hours." She laughed, clearly Charlie had found a new addiction, and this one she liked.
He shook his head, "Too long." Kissing her deeper this time taking steps towards the bed.
"Chahlie," She whined. "I HAVE to talk to you and your distracting me."
He sighed and broke the bond between his lips and her skin, "What is it, my love?" He said as sweetly as he could.
This was the moment, her knees weakened, the butterflies in her stomach were flying around like they were on crack, and her brain couldn't formulate the thoughts she needed. Charlie continued to stare at her with a cross of longing, lust and love in his eyes.
She wanted everything to be perfect, after all that's what he deserved, but it was an impossible goal. It had been a week since Claire confessed her love to Charlie, a week since they had brought up the living situation. A week since Charlie told her, she could pick the location; beach, the Community or the BlackRock. It had been a week since she had made her choice but had not uttered it aloud, not until she was hundred percent sure.
"I want to stay." It didn't come out as clear as she would have wanted nor did it get the reaction she was expecting.
"Um, ok, we can't stay long because I have to perform in a little while, but if you want to be alone, "he wiggled his eye brows his mind clearly only on one thing, "I can think of many other things we can do."
Claire shook her head, "No, I mean I want to live here. With you. I want to be a family." A quiver of a smile formed on Charlie's face as she spoke. "I want you, me, Aaron and Daniel."
There was an overwhelming amount of emotion which struck Charlie when she said that. Daniel. She wanted Daniel to be a part of the family. He couldn't speak; instead he assaulted her with long and deep kiss, holding her tightly, as if holding her would make their bodies one.
Rather hoarsely he coughed out, "I love you," but continued his passionate caresses.
They were both in various stages of undress when there was a knock at the door, "Yo! Rock star you ready?"
The couple frowned at the interruption, "At least he's knocking now." Claire straightened her hair and dress, kissed Charlie sweetly, opened the door and glowered at Sawyer.
"Did I interrupt something?" Sawyer smirked.
"When do you not?" Charlie continued to frown, but sat down on the bed. It would be a few minutes before he would be able to leave the room; Claire had that effect on him.
Sawyer hung out in the doorway, "Hey, did you tell Daniel to say that to me?"
"What? About you being his favorite? Nope, that kid's an independent thinker." Charlie shook his head.
"Oh." A proud smirk crossed Sawyer's face.
"Hey, Claire and Aaron are going to stay here." Charlie announced, but it wasn't really shocking or surprising to the other man.
"Yeah I was thinking I might stay too." Sawyer picked up one of the books off the nightstand and put it back down.
"Really? For Jo?" Charlie questioned, Sawyer didn't answer just shrugged.
"You know, I'm starting to think this crappy island isn't too horrible, not a bad place to spend the rest of your life." Sawyer finally said lost in his own thoughts.
Charlie too, stuck in his own stream of consciousness "I'm going to marry her." Sawyer looked up from the rock collection when Charlie made that statement. Matching grins etched on the both men's face. "When I do, you wanna be a groomsman?"
Sawyer blinked for a few seconds letting the request sink in, "Um, sure." In all his years he had never been close enough with someone to be asked to even go to a wedding, much less be in the wedding.
"Come on," Charlie slapped Sawyer on the back with his free hand, the other he held the guitar. "My public awaits."
The sun had long set; the stars and moon provided the sky's light. A few torches lit the stage. Charlie stepped onto the stage and addressed the audience. "Ok here's the deal, I'm going to play some songs, and you're going to sing along. If you have any requests, you have little slips of paper under your chairs. If you request a song and I know how to play it, I will. But I don't want any crap about how I know how to play the song, because you're the one whose going to sing it. Oh and let's not turn this into 'let's stump Charlie with obscure songs.' Because that gets annoying. Try to keep your song choices to songs that everyone will know." He sat down on a stool. "I'll start off with a song that's been going through my head for the last couple of months." He started to strum his guitar; the sweet rhythm and his voice filled the air. Kate leaned in towards Claire, "I think he's singing to you."
Beth smiled when she recognized the song, the song he had been singing on the rock the second time they met. It felt like a lifetime ago.
Some people say that love's a losin' game
You start with fire but you lose the flame
The ashes smolder but the warmth's soon gone
You end up cold and lonely on your own
His voice became strong and he strummed harder as he lit the core of the song.
I'll take my chances babe I'll risk it all
I'll win your love or I'll take the fall
I've made my mind up girl it's meant to be
Someday lady you'll accomp'ny me
Someday lady you'll accompany me
When the song was over applauds echoed from the crowd. Charlie walked over to the piano and started play, "All You Need is Love." The audience soon started to sing ago.
The funny thing about music is that it's about the feeling it gives you, the swaying beats no written language can fully explain. It's a momentary experience, in the here and now; music has the unearthly power to make people feel.
It could have been the smiles on their faces, the swaying or the off key singing, Sawyer's arm wrapped around Jo's shoulder. Jack's hand on Kate's knee, stolen glances in each other's directions. Locke laughing, Hurley dancing (if you've never seen a fat man dance, once again the written language can not do it justice) were all beacons of the ever-growing joy in the crowd.
There were pangs of universal sadness when Locke sang, "Sloop John Be." "I wanna go home, oh why won't you let me go home." Home, the main land, a thought forgotten resurrected and just as quickly forgotten when Kate took the stage.
She sang a seductively, "Son of a Preacher Man." Swaying her hips, touching her neck, making all the men swallow.
Sawyer leaned in to Jack, "I bet you wish you were the son of a preacher."
Jack nodded, but his eyes focused on Kate. It was Mr. Eko who explained, "He is, another name for a preacher is a Shepard. Isn't that your last name?"
Jack grinned from ear to ear.
After a few songs Charlie stopped the music, "Ok, for the record, I hate this song, but woman LOVE it and they all know the words. The only thing good about the song is sometimes woman dance." He wiggled his eyebrows. "So get up here ladies!"
The woman, unsure, walked on stage, milling around. When keys started to play all the women's eye lit up and on cue they all started to sing, "At first I was afraid, I was petrified." As the women sang, "I will survive" They started to dance and wiggle their hips, run their fingers through their hair and dance with each other.
In the audience the men's eyes bugged out, and devilish smiles crossed their lips. Jack called out to Charlie, "I'm starting a new religion and you are going to be my God."
"I think I would like to join that religion." Sawyer raised his hand,
Charlie was laughing so hard he nearly missed a note.
The night continue, Libby did a stunning version of "I love Rock and Roll," by Joan Jett Charlie looked out to the audience and saw Jacob singing along. He knew there was something off about the image but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.
Sawyer took the stage and sang, "Walk the line," "I keep a close watch on this heart of mine, I keep my eyes wide open all the time. I keep the ends out for the tie that binds."
Jo became flushed and smiled, knowing and understanding the meaning and intentions of the song.
Jack sang American Girl by Tommy Petty, "After all it was a great big world, with lots of places to run to Yeah, and if she had to die, Tryin' she had one little promise She was gonna keep."
Charlie glance out to the audience and once again saw Jacob singing. And he knew what was wrong. The song was release two years AFTER Jacob had been on the island. There was no way he should have known the words.
The knowledge shook Charlie to the core. But being the professional he is, the music continued to play. After a twenty-minute version of "Shout" he had the whole crowd singing, dancing and laughing. He was pleased with the fact even the BlackRock group was able to sing along, conceding they had been on the island for over a hundred years.
There was so much joy, and movement, no one noticed the dark figures approaching.
A voice called out from the darkness, "FREE BIRD!"
Charlie instantly became frustrated by the request, "I have piano and an acoustic guitar what wanker wants 'Free Bird'?"
Henry Gale and the rest of the Dark Ones stepped forward. The crowd stirred, Sawyer found his hand on his gun and noticed he wasn't alone in his action.
Henry called out the crowd, "Jacob we've changed our minds. We want Alex back."
Contempt in his voice was apparent, "You come into my home, interrupt the show, embarrass me in front of my guests?" His voice became louder with each word, " And you have the audacity to make an outlandish request? A treaty was signed; when the crates arrive they will be delivered to you. Either sit down and listen to the music or leave."
"I will only ask you one last time." Henry declared.
"You can not have her."
"So you're telling me, you will not return to me what is mine?" His bird eyes widened as he lifted a gun, "then I shall take from you, what is not yours."
Thunder echoed in the valley.
Chaos and more thunder would soon follow. But for a few spilt seconds there was a stranger eerie silence in the valley. Everything was still.
Something wet and warm soaked into Charlie's shirt. Large splintered wood jetting from his old wooden stringed friend. "Bloody hell, they shot the piano," was Charlie's last thought.