Hello again! I don't have much to say so… let's get to it, I guess.
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost or the episode, Homecoming.
Dedication: This one's dedicated to CharliesHoodie because of all fourteen of your very nice, very sweet, very encouraging reviews. Thanks so much! I'd also like to thank samdean4567, who has reviewed almost every chapter with nice, sweet, encouraging reviews, too.
Chapter Fifteen: Homecoming, Part II
5th Floor Hotel Lounge (Reserved for Crash Survivors Only)
Everyone was walking around the lounge, chatting amiably and having some fun. Hurley had set up the entire meeting, and he'd said that family and friends weren't allowed—it was only the people who had been on the island. With all the green plants and furnishings, plus the same company, it almost felt like they were on the island again. And, for most of them, it wasn't a bad feeling.
"What do you reckon this is about?" Charlie asked Ellie. They were both sitting on a comfortable green sofa. Claire was sitting near them in a reclining chair, cradling Aaron. Rose and Bernard were near them in the corner of the room, talking in hushed voices.
Ellie frowned. "I don't know. But did you know Hurley's a millionaire?"
"What?" Charlie asked in disbelief.
Claire nodded. "It's true. I just talked to the hotel manager, and he said Hurley's bringing Kate and Sawyer back here. He paid for Kate's bail, and he smooth-talked the agents into letting Sawyer stay here an extra night."
"I thought he was joking!" Charlie muttered, feeling guilty for doubting his friend. He remembered their discussion. I bear my soul to you, and all I get is sodding jokes! That hadn't been a joke. Hurley really was a millionaire.
"Well, at least we get to see Kate again," Ellie said optimistically, again surprising herself.
Claire laughed. "Not looking forward to seeing Sawyer?"
Ellie grinned. "Only if he brings those steam-rolled-Harry-Potter glasses with him."
They all laughed good-naturedly, not noticing the bickering couple in the corner. But Rose and Bernard were beyond serious.
"We have to get back there!" Bernard was insisting. "Your cancer's coming back, isn't it?"
Rose looked like she was avoiding the question. She scanned the room for Sun and Locke. Sun was lying down on a sofa, looking pale and weak, Jin looking stressed at her side. But she couldn't find Locke. "Where's John?" she asked Bernard.
Her husband shrugged, looking annoyed. "Probably still in his suite. But you have to listen to me, Rose. I've got enough money—I can fly us down there, and maybe work out some kind of deal where we can build a house on the island…"
"Bernard," Rose said exhaustedly, "as thankful as I am for your support, there's no way you're going to be able to buy a house on that island, and I doubt you have enough money to buy the whole island. It doesn't matter, though. We both knew this would come. We'll deal with it."
"But—"
Rose shook her head, dismissing the subject entirely, and scanned the room another time for Locke. "I'm going to see if he's all right," she told Bernard. "I have a feeling that the island helped him, and now it's taking back from him, too."
Bernard sighed and nodded as his wife left.
Rose made her way to Locke's suite, where she gently knocked. "John? It's Rose."
"Uh, sorry, Rose, could you come back later?" Locke asked through the door.
Rose sighed. "I can," she said with a shrug, "but I just wanted to make sure you're all right."
"I'm fine," he said agitatedly.
Rose paused, but continued. "Did the island… do anything to you, John? Because it healed me. I had cancer."
Another pause. Locke was obviously thinking.
"I'm paralyzed," he finally said. "From the waist down."
Rose didn't gasp or sound disappointed. She just smiled and said, "Do you have a wheelchair?"
"Yeah," he said sadly. She knew it wasn't something he was proud of.
"Then come on," she said brightly. "Hugo has some very important matters to discuss with us, and I think it will be one of the last times we'll see each other. Everyone will be surprised you're in a wheelchair, but it won't affect what they think of you."
He snorted from the other side of the door. That's what you think, he thought to himself, but he knew he should go out. Finally he wheeled himself up to the door, opened it, and came out. Rose smiled gently and took the handles of his chair, pushing him back to the lounge. Together they knew that if they didn't find a way to restore the island's gift, the rest of their lives would be meaningless.
"Everybody's here," Hurley said happily once he entered the room with Kate and Sawyer. Everyone rushed to greet them, but Kate couldn't help but feel terrible that Jack wasn't there. It was still setting that he wasn't there any more, and the familiar faces didn't seem right without him.
But she shook her thoughts away, because she knew this was one of the last times she'd see these people, and she'd have to put on a happy face. She took Sawyer's hand and turned to Hurley as the talking died down.
"Thanks for coming," Hurley said. He wasn't very good at public speaking, but all the lottery fame had done him some good, and he'd talked at the funerals. He was used to talking to these people. "I just had an idea that's probably crazy, but I wanted to run it by you all. And besides that, I figured it'd be nice to, like, hang out some more." He added silently, I wish you were with us, Libby, but he didn't want to bring down the party.
"What's your idea?" Charlie asked from his seat, since no one was saying anything.
Hurley smiled, glad that at least someone was interested. "Well, as most of you probably figured out, I'm kind of a millionaire," he said, but it sounded like more of a question. Most of them nodded knowingly, but a few of them were startled. "Anyway, I was talking to the agent dudes back at the interro-whatever house, and they said that Fiji was, like, selling the island."
Rose, who had found her way back to Bernard, looked excited. He had to admit, if Hurley was going to say what he expected, this could be great.
"So I figured, maybe I should buy the island. But I'd only want to go if a lot of you guys did, because you were the best part, and I know you all have lives and all, so…"
Bernard piped in. No one was saying anything besides the faint Korean chatter of Sun translating for Jin. "Look, that sounds great, but we have to be realistic. None of us can have paying jobs on the island, and…"
"We could," Hurley said hopefully. "I mean, like, we could make it our own little state or whatever. We could have a mayor and we could maybe hire one of the college students as our new doctor…" He paused to honor Jack for a minute. "And I can hire some guys to build us houses, but after that, Michael can help with construction problems and stuff." Michael looked pleased. "And Charlie and Ellie can have gigs we can go to," he added hopefully. The young couple immediately perked up. "And Sawyer, you could, like, sell all the stuff you've collected and be a businessman or whatever," he said to Sawyer.
Sawyer snorted but said nothing. It wasn't a bad idea.
"This is insane," said Mischa, one of the girls from the Expedition. "I just spent an entire week praying that we'd be rescued, and now you want to go back there?"
A lot of people agreed with her, but some of them looked like they were considering it. Locke and Rose were eager for it, and Sun seemed to know that the island had given her her baby, and the island could take it away. Jin knew it was the perfect opportunity to escape the wrath of Sun's father and his partners, and Charlie and Ellie liked the idea of playing by themselves—it had the fun of being in a band without the wild public and financial issues.
"What do you think?" Kate asked Sawyer.
"I think I don't have anything else to do," Sawyer said, "but that I really don't see myself as a businessman."
Kate laughed. "I think you should go."
He narrowed his eyebrows in concern. "And not you?"
"Well, do you really think the judge would let me?"
"I actually think it's a pretty good opportunity," he said, sounding more intelligent than usual. "I mean, what's the most harm you could do on an island with fifty or so people?"
"But what kind of job would I have?" Kate asked. "Hurley sounds like he wants this to be like the real world, and if he's buying it, he calls the shots."
"Why don't you be our mayor?" Sawyer suggested.
Kate laughed. "Don't tell the judge that. He'll think I'm starting an anarchy or something."
"I'm serious," Sawyer pushed. "They listen to you, Freckles."
Kate couldn't even begin to imagine being a mayor, but the thought of going back to the island (and not jail) seemed more than a little tempting. But as she and Sawyer stopped talking, everyone else did, and Hurley continued.
"I'm not saying everyone has to go," he said. "I mean, I don't want everyone to go. But at least some of you would be, like, awesome."
"If we really worked everything out right," Claire said, "I think it'd be a great opportunity. But I have no idea what kind of job I'd have."
"You should be a teacher!" Ellie suggested excitedly. "Well, or a daycare lady, or whatever. You're so great with kids. You can get a license and teach Walt, if Michael agrees, and you can take care of Aaron, and if Jenny and Andrew have kids…"
Claire considered it as Hurley spoke.
"So could I have, like, a show of hands, who's interested? No promises, just an idea."
Kate slowly raised her hand. Seeing that she did, Sawyer did, too. Rose, Bernard, and Locke did, and after a moment's hesitation, so did Sun. She convinced Jin, who also raised his hand. Claire raised her hand, and after whispering a little, Charlie and Ellie raised their hands. Michael took Walt aside to discuss it, but when they came back, they nodded in agreement. Jenny and Andrew raised their hands pretty quickly, and Eko raised his large, dark arm confidently. Jake raised his hand halfway in consideration, but everyone else looked furious at the thought. Apparently it was just those seventeen, plus Hurley.
"Awesome," Hurley finally said. "Well, uh, I guess that's it. You can all just talk it over with your families and all, and tomorrow I'll call some lawyers in."
Everyone split apart after that, but the talking was elevated even more.
"Are we really doing this?" Charlie asked Ellie eagerly. "It just seems so… impossible."
"I don't think Allison will go for it," Ellie said with a light laugh, "but I could probably convince her to let me. She doesn't technically have jurisdiction over me, anyway."
"Liam'll understand," Charlie said with a nod of certainty. "He's got a family of his own—he doesn't really care if I live my life."
"I can't believe it," Ellie sighed. "Wow. It's not every day you befriend a millionaire and he pays for you to move to an island."
Ellie and Allison's Suite
"What?" Allison asked in disbelief as soon as Ellie told her. "You want to go back there?"
Ellie nodded. "I know it sounds ridiculous, Al, but it's really not. I had the best time on the island, and I love all those people. When I go back there, it'll be the same, but with much more security. It'll be real life, but better."
"Ellie, you fought a war last time you were there!" Allison scoffed. "How great can your memories be?"
"I don't fit in anywhere else," Ellie said softly, looking desperate. "Okay? It's like all my life I just went along in my own weird way. I was with the same people I'd always known, but I didn't mesh with them. I just couldn't. It was my nature to be different, but I tried to be the same."
Allison looked sad as she let her sister continue.
"You know how you always told me I 'spited' people?" Ellie asked. "Well, everything changed on the island. I didn't do that any more. I didn't spite people, and I wasn't so different. The more time I spent on the island, the more I felt relaxed and at ease. I never knew that before, but it was great. It's not just the people—it's everything about that place."
Allison guiltily looked down. This was everything she wanted for her sister.
"I work there," Ellie explained. "I just… work. I fit in. I mesh."
"I know," Allison said finally.
"But I don't want to go if we end on bad terms," Ellie said. "You're the most loyal person in my life." Charlie was close, but she'd known her sister for so much longer.
"Then let's not have it end," Allison said with a grin.
"What?" Ellie asked in confusion.
"They got a lawyer on that island?"
"You'll come?" Ellie said, her green eyes sparkling. She smiled and hugged her sister, then pulled back, an idea forming in her head. "Wait a minute. You don't mind being a lawyer for them?"
Allison shook her head. "Nah. We have enough money, anyway. I'll do it for free until they have money."
Ellie glanced up hopefully at her sister. "Then do you think you could help out my friend?"
Kate's Suite
Kate glanced up from the book she was reading when she heard a knock on the door. When she answered it, she saw someone she recognized but couldn't place.
"Hi," the girl greeted her brightly. She looked to be in her early thirties, and she had well-kept red hair. "I'm Allison."
Kate nodded. "Right. Ellie's sister." She led Allison to two of the comfortable chairs in her suite. They both sat down.
Allison finally answered Kate's assessment. "That's me. Listen, Ellie told me about your situation. You have to go to a court hearing soon, right?"
"Uh, yeah," Kate said awkwardly. "It's tomorrow. They'll decide if I go to the island or to jail, basically."
Allison nodded again. "Right. May I ask if you have a lawyer in mind?"
Kate shook her head. "No. They're sending a public lawyer over in the morning, I guess. I can't afford a lawyer."
"You know, I'm coming with Ellie," Allison said, seemingly changing the subject. "To the island."
"That's great," Kate managed, confused. What did that have to do with their conversation?
"I'm a lawyer," Allison explained. "I figured they could use a lawyer for all the legal stuff they'll have to go through."
"Okay," Kate said with a shrug.
"I was wondering if you wanted me to be your lawyer," Allison explained. "In your hearing tomorrow. I know your whole story, and I can work on the case tonight."
"Oh." Kate interpreted this. "Oh."
Allison nodded, smiling. "What do you think?"
"Well, like I said, I really can't afford a lawyer," Kate admitted.
"Don't worry about it," Allison said with a big smile. "It's on me. Consider it a thanks for being a good person."
"Me?" Kate asked in surprise. "Why would you say that?"
Allison shrugged. "Ellie doesn't know you too well, but she saw everything you went through with Jack and everyone else. And you were a really good leader in the end. Ellie really admires you. You're a role model to her. Consider this a thanks for that."
Kate didn't think she'd ever heard anything more heartwarming than that. "Wow," she managed to say. "Then… I guess…" She smiled. "I'd love to have you be my lawyer," she said. "Thank you."
Sun and Jin's Suite
(Korean written as English)
"I don't understand," Jin was saying as he paced around the room.
"Remember how you said that we would consider the baby a miracle?" Sun asked. She knew that her only chance of returning to the island would be if she could get Jin to understand that they might not even have their baby any more.
"Yes," Jin said with a nod. "But what does that—"
"The island gave us that chance," she explained, interrupting him. "Otherwise I would not be pregnant. I think that, once we left, the island took that away from us."
His eyes widened. "You're not pregnant any more?" he demanded.
"I may not be," she sighed. She hadn't started showing, so it was hard for her to tell. "I cannot be sure, but I can't feel anything. I always knew when the baby was inside me, and now…"
"We have to get to the hospital," Jin said quickly. "You translate. They have taxis here."
Sun smiled. She'd been worried that Jin would be like his old self in the real world, but he wasn't.
"I'm sorry," the doctor told Sun and Jin when he got the ultra scan results back, "but there is no record of Sun ever having been pregnant. Sun, are you sure the test was right?"
Sun nodded. "It was. I could tell. And there was a doctor, and he said they were almost always accurate!"
Jin took her hand. Even though he couldn't understand them, he had a feeling he knew what had happened.
"Almost always," the doctor said, "isn't the same thing as always. I'm terribly sorry, but there's nothing I can do." He shrugged, led them to the main room, and left.
Jin turned to Sun quickly. (Translated.) "What did they say?" he demanded.
"He said there was no record of my ever having been pregnant," Sun sighed. "I think I was right, Jin. The island gave back Locke's paralysis and Rose's cancer. Now it's taking back my baby."
"If we go back, will the same baby return to you?" Jin asked her.
She shrugged. "I have no idea, but it seems to me it's worth a try."
Jin smiled and kissed her forehead. "Then that is what we'll do," he said, and they left to find a taxi.
Kate's Hearing
"So you want to move to the island you crashed on," the judge summarized after Allison explained Kate's situation. Everyone from the crash was in the audience. It wasn't an actual hearing because it didn't have a jury, but everyone had insisted on showing up, anyway.
Kate nodded. "I do, Your Honor."
"Do you realize," the judge asked, "that you could be sentenced to up to a lifetime in jail?"
Kate bit her lip. "I understand."
Allison had told Kate the night before that this was like a preliminary hearing. It wasn't to determine how many years she'd spend in prison; it was only to decide whether or not she could move to the island. If she could move to the island, her case would be dropped, at least until she moved back to the real world. If she stayed, she would go to another hearing that determined the rest of her life.
"Ms. Sanders, why do you think I should let Ms. Austen move?" the judge asked Allison.
"I think the island is the best possible place for her," Allison said boldly. "According to the survivors, she was a huge help and never caused any trouble on the island. As a matter of fact, a poll taken with the survivors said that, if they had to choose anyone, they would choose Ms. Austen to be their leader."
"Objection." The hearing didn't have an actual prosecutor, but in order to keep the courtroom balanced, they had hired a lawyer to come in at the moments a prosecutor would. "The results of a poll would have to go into additional research and background verification that cannot be performed in the courtroom."
The judge nodded. "Understood."
Kate glanced at Allison, who quickly spoke.
"The survivors of the crash are with us in the audience," Allison said, turning halfway to face the survivors. "I can repeat the question for them now." The judge nodded, so Allison continued. "Survivors of flight 815 and the Expedition, raise your hands if you think Kate would make a wonderful leader some day, and that she was helpful and good her entire stay on the island."
All the survivors' hands shot up in the air.
The judge almost smiled. "Understood," she repeated. "Ms. Austen, is there anything you regret doing on the island?"
Allison rushed to Kate's aid. "With all due respect, Your Honor, that's a very vast question with many possible responses."
"Point well taken," the judge said with a curt nod. She turned back to Kate. "Emotions and relationships excluded," she said, "do you regret any actions you made involving guns, leadership decisions, or anything of that nature?"
Kate considered this. "I wish I didn't have to use guns," she finally said. "I wish I didn't have to convince them to start a war. But it got us off the island, so no, I don't regret it."
"Are you aware that your 'war' story has made it all across the headlines of the world?" the judge asked. "Starting a war, even when there are no police anywhere, is not something to be done lightly."
"I completely understand," Kate said, ignoring the light buzz of talking that had erupted in the audience. Obviously no one had known about how famous they were. "It wasn't done lightly. Everyone was involved in the debates beforehand, and we went through a voting process. Over half of us wanted to start the war, so we did."
"You started a war that ended in two casualties of your own people," the judge reminded her.
"And you have no idea how much those casualties meant to me," Kate said, her mind once again fluttering back to Jack. "But it could've been a lot worse, and like I said, it got us off the island. We'd been there for months, and we were getting desperate."
"What would you do?" the judge asked. "Even though these people want you to be their leader, I wouldn't give you authorization to do so for at least a few years."
Kate shrugged. "I'm not sure what to expect," she explained. "I'll do whatever needs to be done. We'll probably just order food, but if not, I can scavenge for fruits and other food."
The judge nodded. "As long as Ms. Sanders has nothing further, I'll take a short break to review everything and make a decision."
Allison spoke. "I just want to say that Kate knows what she did was wrong. She's done running. If you chose to put her in jail, she'd go. But this is a much better opportunity, and I think it'll make her a better person in the end."
The judge nodded again. "Thank you."
"Nothing further," Allison concluded. The judge nodded and exited the room for her break.
Everyone wanted to talk to Kate, but spent the whole break with Sawyer. She felt guilty about it, but if the judge ruled in her favor, she'd have a lot of time to converse with everyone. She spent her time with Sawyer in case the judge sent her to prison.
"Did the redhead say anything to you?" Sawyer asked her. Obviously he was running out of good nicknames.
Kate shrugged. "Not really. She said we made a pretty good case, but at this point, it's all just the judge's opinion."
He snorted. "I never knew why lawyers cost so much."
"She's free," Kate explained with a grin.
He laughed. "I bet," he teased, but he knew she was a perfectly fine lawyer. Instead he changed the subject. "So what're we going to do Her Honor lets you go?" he asked. "About the memorial thing, I mean," he added when she gave him a look.
"Oh," she said, and considered the question. "I don't know. We can ask everyone for donations, I guess. I'm sure the state would give us some."
He laughed. "You might wanna use a fake name, though," he joked.
She knew what he meant—she doubted the state would ever approve of her, no matter how much good she did.
But the judge came back, and she decided things couldn't be too bad when she said, in a clear and certain voice:
"Ms. Austen, I have ruled in favor of your move to the island."
5th Floor Hotel Lounge (Reserved for Crash Survivors Only)
"Allison helped me with everything," Hurley said. A few days had passed with them still staying in the luxurious suites, and everything had been taken care of. Now everyone who was going to move were sitting in the lounge again for a final meeting. "The island now belongs to me!"
They all laughed and cheered. Somehow this was exactly what they all wanted.
"So what're we going to do about jobs and stuff?" Walt asked curiously.
"Claire got a license to teach," Ellie said, proud of her new friend. She and Claire continued to bond even back in the real world, and they were both each other's best friends. "You'll be learning from her."
Walt groaned. "So there'll be school?"
Michael grinned as he put an arm around his short son's shoulders. "It'll be fun," he assured him.
Claire nodded. "It will, I promise."
"I'm premed," Jenny offered, "and I'm getting my doctorate over the Internet."
"I hired a bunch of construction people to build houses, and they're putting cell towers up so we can have actual communication with the outside world," Hurley added with a grin.
The cheering continued. For the first time ever, every one of them was happy.
END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Only 2 chapter left! The next one won't be posted for a while, because I'm going to my friend's lake house, but hopefully it'll be up by next Wednesday. Sorry, but everyone deserves vacation! Anyway, here are the (2) responses.
CharliesHoodie: Here's your chapter! I hope you liked it. Yeah, I'm planning to write more, but I don't have a clue what it'll be about, so it'll probably be a while. Sorry! If Charlie can get through withdrawals, you can, too! As usual, thanks a ton for your uber-sweet review.
samdean4567: Yep, you guessed everything right. Thanks for all your reviews, they're so nice:P
Until Wednesday-ish—
KISSBANGX3
