I know that at the moment, Curtis doesnt really play a big part in this story, but as its starting to develop now (yes, we're getting back onto a big plotline! A mahoosive one!), he's going to be essential, remember Jack's dream?

Jack had spent so long bathing and dressing the children that they were a little late for the party that night. He was rather reluctant to go, especially seeing as it was having media attention. He had seen Locke earlier, who had told them that some survivors wanted to give speeches, and they they were going to be televised live to the world. He knew, that being the leader, he would be expected to make a speech, and he really, really didn't want to. He was terrible infront of crowds, and even worse at speeches. He didn't even know what he would say, which would mean a lot of improvising.

Kaia at his side, and Curtis on his hip as always, a pose they had adopted to be normal recently, they entered the room with wide eyes. Jack had never seen something so extravangent yet so casual. People were dressed in simple clothing, jeans and shirts replacing the tuxedos, and women wearing the occassional dress, most wearing jeans and nice t-shirts. The children's eyes immediately fell on the disco ball hanging from the ceiling.

"Woah." Was all Kaia had to say.

"I like that ball. It's shiny." Curtis said, as the lights reflected unnatural shining freckles over his natural ones.

"Can I have one?" Kaia asked Jack sweetly.

Jack ran his hand over her hair. "We'll see, honey." He told her.

"Who are all the people, Daddy?" Curtis asked.

Jack realised that there was more people here than there had been at the harbour that morning.

"This is everyone's families." He told them.

"Their mommys and daddys?" He asked.

Jack shook his head. "Not all of them. Some of them are brothers and sisters, some are their children, some are husbands and wives. Lots of different people."

He looked around, seeing the people he had grown to consider his own family being welcomed back into their own.

Charlie stood nearest to them, with his brother Liam, and his wife and daughter that Charlie had described that morning. Megan was now thirteen, and was giving her uncle the first proper hug she could remember with him. Claire was standing just behing him, with her parents. Aaron was at her side, meeting his grandparents with his cheerful smile. Jack remembered how worried Claire had been that Thomas might show up because of Aaron, but clearly he hadn't, as Claire had that cheerful smile on her face. Sayid was hugging his younger sister, Sayain, who he then introduced to Shannon, who was standing beside her step-mother, who was teary-eyed from the news of Boone. Ana Lucia was standing over on the far side of the room with her mother, both of them too pleased to see each other once again to worry about the past. Hurley was introducing Libby to his mother and brother, who was hugging her. Michael and Walt were with Michael's mother, who Jack could hear exclaiming how Walt had grown so much. Sun and Jin were over with their parents, surprised to see that their fathers were getting along. Locke was with a woman in the corner who they presumed to be Helen.

Everyone was with their blood families again. Jack felt happy for them, but a little sad that he couldn't share their hope.

Until he heard her voice.

"Jack!"

He turned his head to see his mother running towards him. His mother. He hadn't seen her in so many years that he almost didn't recognise the woman approaching him. There was more grey in her hair now, and her eyes were wearier. "Mom." He spoke softly, setting Curtis down beside Kaia as he opened his arms to her.

"Dear Lord, Jack," She hugged him, oblivious to Curtis and Kaia. "I can't believe you're alive." She said gratefully, on the verge of crying. "I was so scared when your plane didn't land. Then they said on the news that it had crashed. Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry I sent you out there."

He smiled at her babbling, he had missed it, even when it had once annoyed him. "It's alright, Mom, I'm Ok." He told her.

She pulled back, eyeing him curiously. "Are you sure?" She asked.

No he wasn't Ok. His heart was breaking without Kate at his side. "I'm alive, that's all that matters."

Margo looked around. "Where's your father?" She asked him. There was a long silence, and Jack tried to find the words. "Where is he?" She asked, a little worried.

"Mom, I'm sorry." He began, and she raised her hands to her mouth. "I found him in Sydney...he'd had a heart attack...he didn't make it." Jack revealed, and Margo shook her head in disbelief.

"You mean...he's dead?" She said slowly.

"I'm sorry." He replied, and hugged her again.

"So am I." She whispered. "Sorry that I couldn't go out there myself." She said to him. "That wasn't something a son should do." She apologized.

Jack was about to assure his mother that he actually enjoyed living on the island, when Kaia spoke up, having listened to their conversation. "Don't worry, he's up in the sky watching us."

Margo looked curiously at her, and with slight difficulty, bent down to Kaia's level. "Hello, little one, what's your name?"

"I'm Kaia." She replied proudly. "Are you our Grandma?" She asked in the cute tone that only a child could use.

"Your Grandma?" Margo questioned, looking up at Jack curiously.

Jack laughed, and nodded, his hand returning to the curls on Kaia's head. "Yes, sweetie, this is your Grandma."

Margo straightened back up to Jack's level. "Jack? I take it you're not babysitting?" She said with an unreadable expression.

He took a breath, ready for the introduction that should have happened years ago. "Mom, this is my daughter, Kaia, and my son, Curtis."

Margo looked at the two children. "Well, this certainly is a shock." She said, and then broke into a smile. "But it is a nice shock." She nodded, and bent forward to Kaia's level again. "Yes, honey, I'm your Grandma.

"Ok." Kaia said vaugely. "Hi Grandma. I'm Kaia." She repeated.

"Hello, Kaia, its nice to meet you finally." Margo said, "How old are you?"

"I'm five." She said proudly. "I'm bigger than Curtis, he's only two."

"I'm three soon!" He called out.

"But I'll be six first!" She reminded him. "Grandma, will you get ice cream for us?" She asked.

Jack had a flashback to his conversation with Charlie about sugar highs. "Kaia..." He began.

Kaia looked up at him sweetly with the puppy-dog eyes that Kate had taught her. Oh, how he had come to hate them. "Please?"

"You haven't had your dinner yet." He told her.

"Jack," Margo interrupted with a laugh. "This is a celebration!" She took Kaia's hand. "Of course I'll get you some ice cream."

"Cause when I told my friend Aaron that I've got a Grandma, he said that his Daddy said that Grandma's give you ice cream." Kaia babbled. Jack was starting to see the family traits of Shephard in Kaia a lot more now.

He laughed to himself. "Only Aaron..." He said, his hand on Kaia's head again.

"Come on, let's go eat." Margo said, taking Kate by the hand and lifting Curtis up onto her hip.

Jack followed them over to the table where they sat with a few others, only a mans voice from behind him called him back.

"Excuse me, Dr Jack Shephard?"

He called to his mother to take the children to sit down, and then turned to the stranger. He was tall, perhaps a little taller than Jack, but only just, with an army uniform on.

"Yes, thats me." He answered. "Can I help you?"

"I'm hoping so." The man answered. "I'm looking for someone."

"Who?" Jack asked,

"Her name is Kate Austen." Jack's eyes darkened at the name he knew and loved so well. "She was on the flight with you all. I've waited for her to show up, and when I asked someone, she said I should talk to you."

"You know Kate?" Jack asked slowly, and the man shook himself.

"Forgive me for being so rude. I'm Sergent Sam Austen, her-"

"You're her father." Jack interrupted, recognising the name instantly from what Kate had told him.

Sam smiled and held out his hand, which Jack shook. "Step-father, actually."

"Not in her eyes, I assure you, sir." Jack told him.

Sam smiled at this face. "Thank you." He looked around. "Is she here? Is she alive?"

Jack nodded. "Yes, she's alive." He looked down, then up again. "They took her back into custody when we got back to Sydney this morning."

Sam sighed. "I thought as much."

Jack tried to change the conversation direction, having spoken about this a thousand times, and wanted to talk about her life more than her absense. It felt too much like a funeral otherwise.

"She talked a lot about you, you know." Jack revealed with a gentle smile.

Sam smiled back. "She did?"

Jack nodded. "She said that if there was one person she could bring onto the island with her, it would have been you."

Sam looked away with a smile that Jack knew meant he was thinking about familiar things, about home, about his little daughter who was all grown up. "You're very close to her, aren't you?" Sam realised from the passion he spoke with.

Jack nodded. "I love your daughter very much." He said, realising that he was actually going through the greuling process of meeting Kate's father for the first time...and it was going well.

Sam nodded as well. "I thought as much. You have that look in your eyes when you speak of her."

Jack looked away, embarrassed to admit that a flush was creeping up his cheeks, and luckily in the dimmed light, he knew that Sam wouldn't have seen it. "So I've been told."

"I'm glad that she has finally found someone to stop her running." Sam declared, accepting Jack. "She must love you too to be able to stop running."

Jack nodded. "We're doing everything we can to get her off the charges." He promised.

Sam agreed, and then frowned. "We?"

"All of us survivors. She's been nothing but a hero." Jack looked around, finally spotting out the blonde haired boy he was looking for, and pointed him out to Sam. "You see that little blonde boy?"

"Yes."

"His name's Aaron. Claire was pregnant with him by eight months when the plane crashed. About a month later, someone was fatally injured, while I was trying to save his life, Claire went into labour. I couldn't leave Boone, but Kate delivered that baby. Well," Jack mused, "He's not a baby anymore."

Sam looked at Aaron, and then at Jack. "My Katie delivering a baby?"

Jack laughed a little. "She didn't want to, she didn't think she could do it. I had hoped I would be there for the birth, but then I couldn't be. She did it all herself."

"Well I'll be damned." Sam grinned.

"As soon as I can, I'm getting her a lawyer, and we're going to go through the trail precedings, about...about what happened to her." Jack explained.

"I see." Sam said sadly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be there for that. I want to help her."

"If you could be there, that would be fantastic." He said.

"It's been a pleasure to finally meet you, Dr-"

"Please, Jack." He corrected.

"Jack." Sam finished. "Call me Sam."

"It was a pleasure to meet you too." Jack ageed, before a dawning look appeared on his face. "Wait! There's some others I need you to meet." He turned over his shoulder, and called over to where his mother sat. "Kai? Curt?"

The two looked up over to Jack. "Yeah?" Kaia answered.

"Come here a second."

As the children came and stood before him, Jack saw the look of recognition pass over Sam's face when he looked at Kaia.

"My God." He whispered to himself.

"I know that this is probably a shock," Jack began, "But me and Kate have been together for more than a while now. These are our children."

Sam let out a smile.

Jack crouched down to their level. "You know that you just met my Mom?" He checked. Kaia nodded. "Well, this is Mommy's dad, like I told you." He told them.

Kaia smiled and looked at Sam, then back to Jack. "This is Grandpa?" She asked excitedly.

"This is Grandpa." He confirmed.

Like Margo had done, Sam crouched to the childrens level, now all four of them close to the ground.

"Hello, angels." Sam said, then looked at Kaia. "How old are you?"

"I'm 5." She answered.

"I thought you were."

Kaia giggled. "How did you know?"

"Because you look exactly like your mother when she was 5." Sam told her with a smile, he turned to Curtis. "What about you, son?" He asked.

"I'm two." He said shyly.

"Do you miss Mommy too?" Kaia asked him.

Sam nodded. "I miss her very much." He said. "I have missed her for a very long time now."

"I miss her too." Kaia said, "So does Curtis. I think Daddy misses her most though." She said, looking at Jack, who kissed the side of her head lovingly.

"I'm sure he does." Sam agreed.

"My name's Kaia Sahara." She told him.

"My name's Curtis."

Sam complimented their beautiful names, and then smiled at Jack. "Thank you, for making my daughter happy." He told him. "I hope you don't mine if I join you in the rest of the celebrations..."

Jack shook his head. "Of course not, after all, you're family." He indicated to the children. "Well, their family."

"Thank you."

"Jack!" Charlie called. "Come on get over here!"

As they ate, Kaia sat on one side of the table beside Margo, and as they were eating she was taking up her usual curious habits of asking what everything on her plate was. Curtis was sitting on Sam's lap beside Jack.

"What's this?" Kaia asked.

Margo lifted some with her fork and showed it to her. "This, is duck."

"Duck?" She questioned.

"Yes, honey, it's a bird."

Kaia looked horrified. "You're eating a bird!" She looked over at Jack, as if getting him to stop her. "Daddy!" She protested in shock.

Jack smiled at her. "It's alright, baby, this bird can be eaten." He assured her. "Anyway, you like duck, John got some on the island before."

"Oh," She said. "Ok." Then she turned back, questioning Margo again.

Sam grinned at her. "She's a beautiful girl." He admired.

Jack agreed. "Yeah...that's Kate, not me."

"I can see you in your son, though."

Jack smirked. "You'd be surprised." He told Sam. Then he looked at his empty plate. "Excuse me one moment. Curt, wants some more meat?" He asked.

Curtis nodded. "Please, Daddy."

Jack went over the the buffet. He got some meat on his plate and was just about to head back to the table when a voice stopped him.

"Hello, Jack."

He turned, and found himself face to face with a familiar woman, blonde-haired and blue eyed. His eye grew wide at the sight of her, and he gulped before saying her name.

"Sarah?"

A/N: oooooo Sarah's back.
What does she want?
Find out in the next chapter!