A/N: This chapter goes out to EternalConfusion, who actually gave me the idea for the ending of this chapter. In fact, the next few chapters go out to her, and to my cousins who are my muses for Kaia, Aaron and Curtis.
Jack danced with Kaia, as he promised. He didn't see Sarah all that while, and he was glad for that. Of course, dancing with Kaia involved her standing on his feet, but he enjoyed spending that time with his baby girl, who wasn't exactly a baby anymore. He remembered when they were shopping on the boat, and Shannon had reminded him just how quickly she was growing up, and all he wanted was for her to be his baby girl forever.
Soon enough, as he had expected, camera crews and reporters began to set up at the back of the room. The speeches that were being made that night were being televised, and Jack sure didn't want to be the one who went first. He hated speeches, but he had been told that Locke was going to introduce the first group, who had begged to go first. So luckily, he might be able to hide in a crowd and be forgotten for a while, whilst people took their limelight.
When he saw Locke go up onto the stage, he stopped dancing with Kaia as the music faded, but remained standing there, holding her tiny hands in his.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if we could have some quiet please. There are some who want to say a few words. I personally don't have anything to say other than thank you for a wonderful ten years, and if I ever get stranded on an island again, I will know who to call." A few people laughed, and Kaia began to swing backwards and forwards on her heels, using Jack's arm strength to stop her from falling each time. "There has been a group who wanted to have the first say on stage, so if Kaia, Aaron and Curtis want to come up here."
Jack grinned, and Kaia ran off, taking Curtis's hand from where he sat with Sam, and then running up to the stage with Aaron. Jack went back and sat with Sam and Margo, not saying a word about Sarah to either of them, as they hadn't gotten a clear sight of her from where they had been sitting. So instead, he watched like any proud father as his children took to the stage.
Locke lowered the microphone for them, and then stepped off the stage. "Have fun kids, you're on TV." He told them, which was just caught by the microphone and amplified through the room.
"What's TV?" Aaron asked, letting the audience laugh.
"Kai! We watch TV!" Curtis realised, tugging on his sleeve. "It's the box in the wall with the people in!"
Jack smiled at Curtis's innocence, and saw how Kaia and him were still holding hands. Most siblings that age fought almost constantly, but somehow, they had managed to stop that. Seeing their hands clasped so sweetly made him smile so much that he just couldn't stop. It assured him that after all the doubts he had about parenting before Kaia's birth were all simply worries, and that he had been a good parent.
"Where's Sawyer?" Kaia asked Aaron. "You said Sawyer would come talk with us."
"SAWYER!" Aaron shouted out, not quite grasping the idea of a microphone, and watching as everyone, including himself who was standing infront of a large speaker, jumped and cover their ears.
"Wow, it makes your voice all loud." Kaia admired.
"Sawyer! Come on!" They called again.
Sawyer, however, was slinking over to the side near Jack and Sam. He really didn't want to go up on stage, especially on television, but the consistant chanting of the children who wanted him with them was too much of a pull for him, and he just couldn't resist. People applauded as he began approaching the stage, and the children jumped around excitedly.
"Right, let's get this party started kids." He told them.
"Sawyer, talk!" Curtis said, pointing at the microphone.
"Tell ya what, kiddo, hows about we let Kai and Aaron talk first, then we'll do our own speech, yeah?" He suggested.
Kaia and Aaron loved this opportunity, and after having a small discussion with each other, began to talk on the microphone while Sawyer took a seat on the edge of the stage, with Curtis standing beside him while they watched the other two.
"We liked living on the island." Kaia started. "It was fun."
"We had races on the beaches, and we ate nice food."
"We had a ginormous family with fifty people in. Everyone looked after us."
"Everyone looked after each other." Aaron corrected.
"My Daddy says that this is our home now, and that we're going to live in Sydney, and that's in Australia."
"We are too." Aaron says. "I've got a cousin called Megan now."
"We've got a grandma and a grandpa." Kaia enlighted.
"And Sawyer's got a girlfriend!" Aaron teased, and Sawyer shook his head looking away, no surprise that his eyes connected with a blushing Ana Lucia in the corner.
"Daddy says we can still go to the beach here, so that it will feel like home." Kaia said. "And that we can go lots of places that we've never been before."
"My Daddy said that he's going to build a big hotel like this one on our island so that we can go back there one day. And that lots of famous people will go there to play golf on our golf course." Aaron said, and lots of people laughed gently in the direction of Charlie, clearly interested in his golf course.
"And I think it's Sawyer's go now." Kaia said.
As they passed Sawyer the microphone, the survivors and their familys gave Kaia and Aaron an applause, which the two loved. Sawyer held it to himself and then didn't say anything for a long time. Kaia shook her head, and said close to the microphone... "Sawyer, if you don't hurry up, we'll get Daddy to do it." She said, with the room erupting in laughter, and Jack secretly hoping that Sawyer spoke quickly.
"Alright. Well, I don't know exactly what to say." He told them, talking to the children rather than the audience.
"Make something up. Like our stories. They were good." Curtis said.
Sawyer ruffled his hair. "Thanks, kid."
"Think of something." Aaron said, and they sat down on his other side.
"Right, well, I'm going to back to what John Locke said about this being televised. So, seeing as this is live and all, here are probably like a billion people watching this, and I know for sure that some high-up important people are going to watch this, who knows, maybe even the guys in charge of everything these days. So, I'm going to let these guys in on something that we all know, and they couldn't even begin to understand." Sawyer started. "One way or another, we did all made it back - but we didn't do it together, like we should have done. So while you're all sittin' there drinkin' to good luck and new lives, take a few minutes to think about the person who should be here with us." He looked at Curtis. "Who's not here, champ? Who's missing?"
"Mommy." Curtis said.
"You miss Mommy, don't you." He nodded. "Why?"
"Because they took her away."
"That's right. They took her away from you." Sawyer said, placing his hand on Curtis's shoulder. "His Mommy, who we all know as Kate Austen." Sawyer said to them, and Jack was listening intently in the corner. "Now, Freckles survived a lot through her life. She's got apast that only stopped runnin' through her pretty little head once she had Jack to keep her sane, and she's the only women out of all of you two have two pregnancies and births on the island. No disrespect to Claire," He doubled back, nodding in her direction. "But at least she learnt after having one kid without painkillersthat it hurt, but no, Kate had to do it twice. Right here, I've got two kids who should be sitting with their Mom instead of me. Kaia shouldn't have been dancing with me earlier on, she should have been twirling around the room with Kate, they they did on the beach all those times we saw them dancin' in the sand together. Curtis shouldn't be here beside me, he should be sittin' on Kate's hip, his arms around her neck like he always does. And Jack," He pointed over in Jack's direction, and the two men locked eyes for a moment, "Jack sure as hell shouldn't be sitting there on his own without her. I know I told them to get a room at times, but I'd rather see them hanging off each other than to see them seperated like this." Jack smiled at Sawyer. "Now, like I said, this speech is being shown all over the world right now, and I bet a lot of people what to know what really happened to us out there. In fact, they probably all think that I'm going to dish out some big secret right now. People are gonna want our autographs, interviews and stuff right now, which is why I'm gonna be the one who says this, on behalf of all of us."
Sawyer stood up, and so did the children, all standing closely together, Kaia slipping her hand in Curtis's again, which didn't escape Jack's notice.
"So, listen up, World. We all care about Kate, and not a single person here doesn't. And this is how it's going to happen. Without Kate, no interview will be given, no autographs, no posed pictures, nothing from any survivors of Oceanic Flight 815." The ultimatum actually caused all the press at the back of the room to gasp and start whispering, while the survivors all nodded in agreement. "Kate's a part of this too, and until she's back with her family, where she belongs, no one's gonna know a single thing about what happened on that island. Who's with me?"
All the survivors stood up and cheered. Jack noticed the expression that crossed Kaia's face as she looked over his shoulder towards the back of the room. He was about to look over his shoulder and see what had caused it when the sound died down, and her voice deafened in the microphone, causing the entire room to silence.
"Mommy!"
They all turned, and saw Shannon standing at the back of the room, and beside her, stood Kate.
