The ship came into dock at around one o'clock in the end, still earlier than the survivors had been prepared for. They had also been told to be prepared for a few photographers and onlookers, as their news story had recieved a lot of coverage over the last few years as the hunt for them had progressed and eventually, given up. This had turned out to be a massive overstatement.

"Small turnout, my ass." Sawyer muttered, as they stood out on the deck and saw the mass of a crowd that had gathered in Sydney harbour to greet them.

Jack smirked at the comment. He held onto Kaia's hand, and had Curtis settled on his hip, ready to fight their way through the crowds to get into cars. Kaia was standing beside Aaron, chatting animatedly to him as they looked at the amount of people, having never seen such a crowd in their lives.

"Mom, who are all those people?" Aaron asked Claire.

"People who want to see us." Claire told him. "They've been looking for us."

He seemed content with this, and so Kaia and Aaron turned back to the crowd.

Sawyer looked at Jack. "Those people are in pretty close." He observed.

"Sure are." Jack agreed. He was still shaken up from his dream that morning, and was now facing the reality that Kate wasn't going to be around him anymore. He hadn't spoken much to anyone other than the children.

"Want me to take Curt so you can lift Kaia up?" Sawyer asked. Jack faced him strangely. Sawyer shuffled on his feet, ashamed to have suggested helping Jack out. "Come on, don't want mini-Freckles to get lost when we've been back for all of five seconds." He covered up hastily.

Jack smirked again, and handed Curtis to Sawyer, getting ready to lift the heavier Kaia onto his hip.

The photographers were going wild, when they took their first step off the ship. Jack, still their leader, went first. He took his first step onto mainland, lifting Kaia up onto his hip the moment the crowd seemed to swarm to get past the police pushing them back. Suddenly, everything was moving so quickly, a man was showing them to a car for them. Sawyer, who was holding Curtis, went over to the same car as Jack, and they were told that their belongings would be taken to the hotel in a different car. Their essentials were slung in bags over their shoulders, and the two men strapped the kids into the car, watching as they babbled excitedly about what was happening now. After all, they had only ever seen cars in book illustrations.

Just as Jack lifted his head from strapping the last seatbelt in, he instinctively looked to his left, and saw beyond the crowd, and as fast as everything had been moving for the past few minutes, or however long it had been, things seemed to slow down dramatically as Jack focused on another car in the distance.


Kate had left her room without a fuss, knowing that this would only lead to trouble for Jack when he tried to get her free. So she wasn't putting up a fight as they took her to a car over away from the crowds. She was thankful for that at least, so she wouldn't be plagued with media coverage just yet. As they got closer to the car, she felt eye boaring into the side of her head, and turned it quickly to see Jack, staring right at her. He was standing by another car, in the centre of attention, while cameras went wild and people screamed excitedly. Already celebrities in their own way.

Their eyes locked, and even though she couldn't clearly see the compassionate chocolate brown eyes that she knew and loved, she had them memorised in her head, and could picture them in an instant. She became aware that she had stopped walking, and so the Marshals around her gave her a shove towards the car. She stumbled for a moment with the impact, and she hated to think of the concern in Jack's eyes when he saw that. Her head lifted to see him again, and just nodded at him, all she could do. If she shouted, she wouldn't be heard, and neither would he; and there was no chance of the movie happy ending where the police were fought off and they ran to each other in slow motion, finally colliding in a moment of happiness waited for centuries. No, she could only nod her head to him, the only goodbye she could give him.

Then they forced her into the car, and he was blocked from her sight. As they drove, her in the middle seat, two Marshals in the front seat and one on either side of her, she leaned her head forward, bringing up her knees and hands to melt into a ball, and tried to hold back her tears once again. The engine started, and she began to be dragged further away from Jack into a world she barely knew, or cared for, anymore.


Sawyer's call broke Jack's focus on the car now speeding away from him, carrying Kate away to a dingy cell in a run down prison not to far away, he hoped that at least. He snapped his head back round, hiding the distraught look in his eyes, and then got into the car. He sat in the back with the children while Sawyer jumped into the front seat of the car beside the driver. As the car started, photographers clouded them against the windows, but thankfully, no one seemed able to get a clear shot of any of them. Jack wasn't ready for publicity just yet, and he didn't want his children to be in the limelight either.

They were taken to a hotel not far from the harbour, right in the city heart. Jack had stayed in hotels all over the world, but couldn't remember being in one that was so elaborate. Then again, he hadn't stayed in a hotel in ten years, this could be a shack in the middle of the desert and he'd find it to look like a palace. Kaia immediately started to wander off to look at the large fish tank in reception that caught her eye, but Jack grabbed her hand before she dipped into the small crowd of people and got lost. Together, Sawyer and Jack walked over to the reception desk. In the car, they had assured each other that they were simply working together for Kate and the children's sake, yet deep down, they both knew otherwise. They had become friends over the years, even if they were both to stubborn to admit to it.

"Oceanic flight?" The receptionist asked brightly. She was a tall, blonde haired woman with golden curls running over her shoulders of the blazer jacket she wore.

"That's right." Sawyer said flirtily. Jack rolled his eyes, not only did he flirt with every woman he met, he didn't stop there, he had to flirt with every woman in the world, even one who had only said two words to him, and was probably this friendly to all her customers.

"Ok, can I take your names please?" She asked, her eyes never leaving the Southern man's face while spoke. Ok, maybe Jack was wrong about her being this friendly to everyone.

"Ford, and this hear is the Sheppard gang." Sawyer pointed.

"Alright, Mr Sheppard, you're up on the 23rd floor, room 15. Mr Ford, same floor, room 19." She handed them their keys, and told them that their luggage was up in their rooms. They thanked her and walked away so that the next arrivals, Sun and Jin, could check in.

"Dad, can we look at the fish now?" Kaia asked, tugging on Jack's hand.

"Alright, quickly, because we need to get to our things." He told her, whilst leading her over to the large fish tank that served as a wall.

Kaia went up to it curiously, putting her hand on the glass, and Jack wondered how long it would take cleaners to wipe away her smeary fingerprints. She stared up at the fish, watching the large and small tropical ones, particularly following the lion fish around with her eyes. It came up close to her face, seemed to have a staring contest, and then puffed itself out, making it seem larger. She laughed as it shrank again, and then her eyes met something else. Blue eyes and an equally curious face. As soon as they both realised what was happening, both of the pairs of eyes whipped away from the fish tank to their parents.

"Dad! Aaron's in with the fish!"

"Mom! Kaia's in with the fish!"

Jack and Claire also met eyes through the fish tank, and Claire walked Aaron around to the other side of the fish tank, where he eyed Kaia up curiously.

"You're not all wet." He observed.

"Nor are you." She laughed, and they went back to watching the fish, on the same side of the glass for the moment.

Claire giggled at them, then turned to Jack. "How long before they ask for their own pets?" She thought.

"About 2-"

"Mom, can I have a fish?" Aaron turned round and asked on impact.

"I don't want a fish." Kaia said, and Jack very nearly jumped for joy. But she continued..

"I want a dog."

"Yeah me too." Curtis agreed.