Kaia began to grow into a beautiful child from the moment she was born. By the time she was a year old, and able to stand on her own two feet, she was trying to get everywhere. Wherever her feet would take her, she was happy, and it was always a challenge for whoever was with her to keep her on the ground when she found the low branched trees. Usually it was Jack who had the unfortunate knack of being with her whenever the words "Daddy, look at me!" Were spoken, and he turned to see her about six feet up in a tree, already taking after Kate.

Her first shaky steps were taken by the caves, between Kate and Jack. Jack remembered the look of surprise and pride on Kaia's face when she turned around and saw how far she had walked. Oh, how she had clapped at herself. By this time, she was speaking as well. Only a few words actually made sense in the human language, but she was picking it up well, including a few choice phrases from Sawyer which Kate had given him a good talking-to about. Her favourite word, however, was 'funny'. Whenever she was caught doing something she shouldn't be doing, going through Jack's medical supplies for example, and someone caught her, she would panick for a moment, turn around from whatever she was doing, smile sweetly, and then the word came..."Funny?" Of course, this had everyone laughing, so whatever it was she had done was forgotten.

At two years old, she already had long curls like Kate's, the same rich colour residing in both their hair. Although Kate's was longer, Kaia's already waved down past her shoulders. It was just a shame that she never sat still long enough for anyone to do anything with it, which is why it was always down, and by midday, usually full of twigs, which Kate took the opportunity to remove whenever she sat down to eat, the only time when Kaia would sit still.

In April, Kaia turned three, and a month later, in May, Kate gave birth to her second child. Kaia was excited about being a big sister, and while Kate was expecting, she gabbled to anyone who was listening about what her and her new brother or sister would do. Of course, the worries of childbirth set in again for Kate, but this time she had an easier labour, and delivered another healthy child, this time, a son, whom they named Curtis.

Two years on, Curtis was running around with his sister, now five years old, and Aaron, now nine. Like Kaia, Curtis had curly hair, although his was much shorter. Kaia's still brushed past her shoulders, and Shannon, who had once been a hairdresser, trimmed it for her regularly. Yet different from Kaia and his parents, he didn't have those brown eyes, his were dark blue - the kind that they were at birth. Jack had never known this colour before after a few weeks of the birth, because usually even the blue eyed children's eyes would become lighter, but his stayed dark blue and mysterious.

On a regularly warm evening, Kate and Claire were sitting on the beach while the children played in the sand. They were making a giant sandcastle, which was rather well constructed for children who had never seen buildings with their own eyes, and at the moment it stood as high as Kaia's shoulders. Aaron was a head taller than her, and Curtis a head smaller. It was peaceful to watch the children play together, indifferent to the situations that they had been born into.

"Nine years." Claire announced suddenly. Kate looked at her strangely. "It's been ten years since we crashed here." She continued.

Kate shook her head slightly. "When you have kids growing up, it goes so fast." She mused. "Does it ever bother you that they'll never have the luxuries they'd have back home?"

"All the time." Claire agreed. "But this is their home. They won't have a DVD player, or a car, or anything fancy like that, but they have those old cartoons they watch in the hatch, and all those books that they're learning to read."

Kate had to agree with her. Even if they were in the middle of no where, the children were well taught. Now that Walt was nineteen, Michael was teaching him the more complicated areas of construction, and teaching Aaron the basics of building. Sun and Kate taught Kaia and Aaron all about the different plant properties in the jungles, and used the books in the hatch to help them. Jack taught them the medicinal properties of what supplies they had left, and basic first aid. Kaia had even learned a few ballet moves from Shannon once. Sawyer would sit in what they called the library room in the hatch and read them the many books on the shelves in there, whether stories or information, they loved to hear anything being told to them. Charlie would play them music, surprising everyone with remembering words to songs that he had not heard in ten years, and not all of them were by DriveShaft. Kaia's favourite was when Charlie was joined by others to sing Bohemian Rhapsody, and Aaron adored Living On a Prayer. Whenever Curtis wasn't sleeping, all it took was for someone, usually Kate, to sing Art Garfunkle's Bright Eyes to him and he was asleep by the end of the song.

No, they didn't go without. In fact, they were learning things and having opportunities hear that they would never get back in civilisation. If they didn't have the threats from lurking dangers in the jungle, then life would be perfect for them. It disturbed them to know that even Curtis, at two years old, knew that the jungle was dangerous. Kaia and Aaron knew, but they hadn't developed a sense of fear yet, and at the rate they were going at, they probably wouldn't.

Also on the beach that day were Locke and Michael. They had been staring at the shoreline for hours now, and the women wondered what they were staring at. A few moments later, Michael came over to them, and crouched down, while Locke stayed where he was. "Mind if I steal your opinion for something?" He asked them, sheilding the sun from his eyes.

"Course not." Kate said. "What's up?"

Michael looked behind him at the sky, and then pointed to a specific point. Kate and Claire followed his gaze. "Do you see anything in the sky at all?"

For a few moments, Kate stared, but saw nothing. Then, she saw a tiny black dot move further away. Then, it disappeared. She frowned, was it a trick of the fading light? No. It was back again, it seemed to be circling, whatever it was. "What is that?" She asked. From the look on Claire's face, she could see it as well.

"I don't know. An aircraft of some kind we think." Michael told them.

"We're being rescued?" Claire asked quietly. Kate remained silent.

"I don't know for sure." Michael said. "Look, even if it is, then the signal fire won't alert them for an hour or so." He looked over to the large fire that burnt further down the beach. It was still burning continuously from nine years ago, in the hope of a rescue coming one day.

"Do we tell anyone?" Claire asked.

Michael shook his head. "Tell Jack, but thats it. Me and John are waiting here tonight to see if anything happens. Sayid and Charlie are here for their fire shift anyway, so we're going to keep a look out together." They nodded, then Michael nodded at the sun. "Sun's going down pretty fast today, better get those kids up to the caves before sundown."

The sun was, indeed, already sinking before the shoreline. The two mothers called the children over, and together began walking over to the caves. Kate could only see the irony of the pair talking about not being rescued, and then the possibility presenting itself only moments later.

"Are you all right, Kate?" Claire asked. "You've been so quite since we left the beach."

All Kate could think about was the rescue, and not in a good way. She had a life here on the island. She had Jack, two wonderful children, a new beginning, all of that would be taken away from her in the real world. She was a criminal, a murderer, she would be locked up, and she'd never see Jack, Kaia or Curtis again.

"I don't want to leave." Kate said quietly so that the children, who were talking, wouldn't hear. "I can't leave."

Claire sighed. "Kate, you're-"

"They're going to arrest me, Claire." She told her defiantly. "No matter what happens, I'll be taken away from them." She looked at her children, each holding one of her hands, oblivious to their mother's pain.

"Don't worry." Claire assured lightly. "I mean, you've got forty people here who can vouch for you being a good person. It's not like you've been a criminal here."

Kate let out a laugh at that. "I've always been a criminal."

Claire only shook her head. "No, we all got a new start here." She reminded. "You didn't chose to be a criminal, you chose to be a hero." She giggled at the idea. "Heh, you and Jack, our island heroes." Kate didn't laugh like she usually would, the sound was hollow, and Claire nudged her arm. "Hey, come on, we don't even know if it's for sure yet."