"You know, I've been thinking," Julie said to Desmond as he parked his car. They'd gotten to his mansion after leaving the airport, but apparently Desmond had only wanted to switch to his own personal car and they're been ready to go somewhere again. Julie knew better by now than to ask any questions. She would find out about everything soon enough. Also, something told her that Desmond enjoyed having the upper hand a little too much and for once actually knowing it all, so she just decided to let it go for now. "We've been extremely lucky when we were alive. Our love survived," she continued.
"Of course it did."
"No, you're not following. I mean… every one of them, every one of our friends, they found love, but they also lost it quickly. No one made it to the end. I mean… no one. Jin and Sun died together, but they still died," Julie explained and Desmond finally realized what she was talking about.
"You're right," he admitted as he thought about it. "We were incredibly lucky. And just because of that we need to help the rest to find that happiness again."
"What do we do now?" Julie asked as she couldn't wait any longer. She hated being kept in the dark and she hated surprises and Desmond knew that and he enjoyed it! That idiot, she thought.
"Well, I need to pick Charlie up from jail," Desmond simply said.
"Jail?!" Julie raised her voice in surprise. "What the hell did he do? I thought only Kate was on the run!"
"She is, but Charlie had heroine on him back on the plane and he was arrested for it."
"Of course he was," Julie sighed heavily. "Ok, so where that leaves me?"
"I think I'll try to bring Charlie to the docks. Maybe the sight of water and my presence will help him remember something. Maybe it'll at least make him trust me."
"You really want him to remember that you were the last person he saw before he died?" Julie made sure when Desmond pulled over. "Yeah, you really think that will make him trust you?"
"At least it'll be something familiar. Wait here, will ya?"
She just got out of the car and watched Desmond drive away when shaking her head. She did not like that plan of his at all.
"I'm talking spectacular, consciousness altering love, mate," Charlie was saying while they were sitting in a bar. Desmond had no choice but to follow his friend there. "Have you ever felt something like that?"
"Yes," Desmond answered when smiling. "Actually, I am experiencing it right now. I've just found my wife."
"Good for you, buddy. At least your girl didn't appear to you when you were about to die." Charlie patted Desmond's back and turned to leave.
"Hey! Wait!" The Scotsman called after him, but the Englishman was already out the door.
Julie was relieved to finally see Desmond's car coming back, but that relief quickly turned into horror when the car swerved dramatically and landed in the water.
"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed when covering her mouth with her hands and then running to the docks, frantically wondering what to do. Finally, she started to take her shoes off with the intention to dive in.
Just then Desmond emerged from the water when taking a deep breath.
"Desmond! Are you ok?!" Julie asked in panic. "Where's Charlie?!"
"I'll go get him!" Desmond said with the intention to dive back in.
"What if something happens to you?!" she yelled, terrified.
"We're already dead," he just said. "Nothing will happen to me. I promise." And he was just gone. Yeah, she thought with a huff, she did like him better when he didn't have all the answers. She loved him dearly, but right now she was just furious with that guy. What the hell was he thinking anyway?!
A few moments later Desmond finally emerged from the water again and he had Charlie in tow.
Once the ambulance came, the paramedics wanted to take Desmond to a hospital, too, but he refused, swearing that he was fine and that they needed to take care of his friend instead.
"That went smooth," Julie said with obvious irony when standing nearby with her arms folded on her chest. She looked her husband up and down, scanning his wet clothes. "Did you achieve anything by that stunt you pulled?" she prompted.
"I'm not sure. I could've sworn he remembered something, like a flash, but then… nothing." Desmond shook his head to Julie's satisfaction. Maybe he didn't know it all, after all. And he was the one dripping wet with clothes sticking uncomfortably to his body, not she.
"Well, what did you even expect?" she asked him. "Charlie's a drug addict, so whatever he saw, he probably thought those were hallucinations."
"I'll get him to the concert one way or another." Desmond just shrugged it off.
"Wait, what concert?" Julie asked with a frown.
"Faraday is throwing a concert and he wants to play with the Drive Shaft," her husband explained. "That's when we'll all meet again. But before, we need to get back to my house, so I can change and then we'll take another car."
"To go where this time?" Julie asked in an exasperated voice. She did have fun when seeing him so wet and witnessing his plan going down with the drain, pun not intended, but now because of that they needed to get back to Desmond's mansion. If things kept on going the same way as they'd gone with Charlie, they should start thinking about plan B if anyone asked her opinion.
Julie was nervous once entering the building in which she should find Claire. She had fun seeing Desmond fail over and over again, but once she was the one to actually do something, she discovered it wasn't that easy. She needed to pay attention to all the things she could and could not say, to the way she would behave around Claire and she needed to get her to do something. This wasn't easy. Nah-uh. And Desmond wasn't there to help her. No, he had to choose that exact time to go see John Locke.
Julie took a deep breath, then idly walked towards the reception desk to sign her name on the list. Claire just finished doing the same and was about to leave. It was Julie's first and last chance.
"Hey, you were on that plane, Oceanic 815, right?" she asked the blonde, faking a surprise that they met in there.
Claire turned to her. "Yes." She nodded as she recognized Julie. "Your husband offered me a ride, didn't he?"
"That's right. I'm Julia Hume." Julie reached her hand out to Claire. She was proud of herself that she hadn't called Claire by her name so far. She wasn't supposed to know it yet. Maybe it wouldn't be that hard, after all, she thought. Talking to Claire was like catching up with an old friend. A friend with chronic amnesia, but still… She was sure that talking to Jack would be much more difficult as he'd died so violently and suddenly, leaving so many unresolved issues between them.
"Claire Littleton. Nice to meet you," the blonde introduced herself.
"How are you? Is everything all right with the baby?" Julie asked when they both headed towards the elevators.
"Yes, although I need to admit that I had a small accident. I landed up in a hospital," Claire informed.
"Oh… Are you all right?" Julie got concerned as they stepped into the elevator.
"Yes, I am now and your husband was right. It is a boy. Aaron," Claire suddenly added when touching her belly and something inside Julie broke at the sight.
"That's a lovely name," she said, swallowing the real emotions that actually screamed to be revealed in her voice. "I hate that you were in that hospital, though. Maybe we should've insisted on giving you a ride."
"It's fine. I knew I shouldn't be flying at this stage of my pregnancy anyway, but I-I wanted to give him up for adoption," Claire suddenly confessed. Julie could only feel happy that the blonde decided to trust her with that information when technically she didn't even know her yet. Or maybe deep down inside she did know that she could talk to her as they were good friends. Claire might not have her memories, but she did have her instinct. "The couple that was supposed to take him, split up and now I'm looking for a new one," the Australian followed.
"Did you consider keeping him?" Julie asked. "Sorry, I don't want to overstep any boundaries here, I just…" she added quickly.
"It's ok." Claire smiled at her warmly. She really had a very pretty and radiant smile. Julie could only be sorry for her and for Charlie that they hadn't gotten their happy ending when they'd still been alive. "I just don't think I can do this on my own. No college education, no one to help me and no stable job. I just… can't."
"I'm sorry, but if you ever change your mind, I'm sure you'll be able to take care of him somehow… Oh, I'm getting off at the same floor," Julie noticed and then she knew that she needed to tell Claire exactly what Desmond had instructed her to. "Listen, I'm just on my way to meet my lawyer. She's amazing and I'm sure she could help you with all the legal work considering the adoption. Come see her with me. It won't cost you a penny," she assured the blonde.
Claire hesitated, clearly surprised at the kindness she met with from the Humes' side.
"You didn't accept that ride home and landed up in a hospital. It's the least I can do," Julie encouraged her.
"Why are you meeting your lawyer? Are you getting a divorce?" Claire asked in a sad voice. "You seemed like such a lovely couple."
"Oh, God, no, we're not getting a divorce!" Julie denied quickly as they stepped out of the elevator and she led the way. "Desmond and I are crazy about each other. It's just a business meeting."
"Oh, good because you're really great together," Claire assured Julie and then she shrugged. "What the hell! I'll go see your lawyer."
"Excellent!"
It was only when Julie introduced Claire to the lawyer that she realized how important it was.
"Wait… Claire Littleton from Australia?"
"How do you know where I'm from?" Claire asked when being a little taken aback.
While Claire disappeared inside the lawyer's office, Julie just took a seat, deciding to wait. She didn't know what her next move should be, so she could as well wait for Claire or for the next clue from Desmond. She was really curious of how things had gone with Locke.
Only then her whole body stilled as she watched Jack Shephard walking inside with a teenage boy and then disappearing in the same room Claire had earlier. It made sense. Claire was his sister and they still didn't know about it in this world, but a son? Julie felt lucky to be sitting, otherwise she might faint and then Jack would surely get to her as he was a doctor. She couldn't handle this now. Not yet. Desmond was apparently right. It was just too much. Julie had spent such a long time grieving for her friend and being angry with him and now he was just there, right in the next room, talking to the lawyer and Claire. It was so confusing and overwhelming that Julie didn't know what to do and she actually started to panic. Once they all left the office, she would be faced with the freshly united Shephard family. Was she ready for that? Could she pretend not to know Jack? And why the hell did he have a son? Where did that even come from?!
Julie grabbed her phone with shaky hands and sent a text message to Desmond as she wasn't sure if she should call in the middle of his conversation with John Locke. Jack is here! What do I do?! She hit send. Then she bit her lower lip and typed another message: And how the hell does he have a son?!
The door to the office opened again and Jack came out of there in a rush. Julie stilled, not prepared to see him again so soon and she suddenly wished to become invisible. If Claire got out as well and saw her… Only then Jack just told the receptionist, "I'm sorry. Medical emergency. Can you reschedule? Some poor guy in a wheelchair was run over!" And he was just gone as he ran out of there.
Run over?! Julie thought when connecting the dots. A guy in a wheelchair? Luckily for her, Desmond chose that very moment to call her.
"Did you just ran over Locke?!" she asked angrily, forcing herself to keep her voice down to a certain level, so the receptionist wouldn't hear her. Julie just couldn't understand this. This wasn't her Desmond at all. Her Desmond didn't hurt people.
"Julie, just get down and we'll talk, ok?" he said and had the audacity to actually hang up on her!
The elevator couldn't be more slower, Julie thought when she ran out of the office and was riding down to meet Desmond. Once she finally exited the building, she spotted her husband's car and got inside.
"Explain!" she demanded angrily and without preamble.
"I didn't hurt John. I was just trying to help him," Desmond simply said when starting the engine.
"By running him over?!" She clearly couldn't stop yelling at him.
"It was the only way. He met Jack on the airport and Jack offered to help him walk again, but John refused. He just needed a little push."
"A push?!"
"He needed to be operated by Jack, so Jack would be able to fix him," Desmond explained. "It's not like I killed him. We're…"
"…already dead!" Julie finished after him with a sigh. "Ok, what's next?"
"You're gonna have to do exactly as these instructions say." Desmond handed her a piece of paper. "First, find Ana Lucia."
"Ana Lucia, great. Of course." By this point Julie didn't care about anything that sounded crazy anymore.
"I'll need to… well… beat up Benjamin Linus," Desmond informed in a hesitant voice like he was afraid Julie would lash out at him again.
"I won't even ask." She shook her head. "And I'll actually give you my permission after what he did to me to drag me back to the island."
"And then I need to get myself arrested," Desmond added.
"Mhm…" This was a bizarre reality, if it was even a reality for God's sake! She thought. "But why? Don't tell me you actually feel bad for running John over because you could've just…"
"Kate and Sayid are in jail and Sawyer is a law officer."
"Of course he is." There was nothing that could surprise her at this point.
"And here is why I need you to talk to Ana Lucia. She will break us all free."
"All right. Is there something else you wanna share?"
"Yes, there's also Hugo…" Desmond started and Julie rolled her eyes. Then she actually burst out laughing. It was the only option for her as she didn't see much sense in crying.
When Julie and Hurley finally reached the place Desmond had marked on the map, the van that was supposed to transfer him, Kate and Sayid to another jail, was already there.
Julie jumped out of the car when holding a black dress in her hand - another thing Desmond had asked to bring - and told Hugo to hurry up.
"You're not going anywhere until I get my money," Ana Lucia was just threatening Des.
"There's the guy! He'll pay you!" Desmond pointed Hurley with obvious relief.
"Honey, I'm sorry we're late!" Julie called to him and then finally ran towards him and gave him a peck on the lips. She might've been still a tiny bit angry with him, but this time she was the one to screw up. She and Hurley were late and it could've resulted in disastrous consequences. Luckily for them, Ana Lucia was willing to wait a little bit longer.
"Got the dress?" Des made sure and Julie handed the dress over to Kate. She herself was already wearing a little red one.
"Put it on," Desmond told Kate, "you're going with us. Hurley, you take Sayid!"
Kate looked at the dress, then at Desmond and then at Julie and back at the dress. Eventually, she said, "I guess I should be relieved that you're not a pervert. You wouldn't pull something like that off with your wife here, would you? Or…" she hesitated. "Are you into some weird stuff?" she wanted to know.
Julie and Desmond looked at each other and burst into delicious laughter.
"You'll understand everything soon, Kate, I promise," Julie just said when looking at her old friend with softness in her eyes. Apparently, it was a softness Kate couldn't understand yet either and it only perplexed her more. While Julie could actually give the woman more details or at least say that she and Desmond didn't expect any threesome, she decided against it. Watching Kate squirm was an excellent entertainment and she knew now how much Desmond must've enjoyed doing the same to her earlier.
Once they finally managed to get to the concert, Claire with Jack's son were already sitting by the table, but there was no Jack. Quite frankly, Julie was both afraid and exhilarated by the perspective of seeing Jack there and once she realized that he hadn't showed up, she was both relieved and disappointed if that made any sense.
"Claire?" Kate asked with her eyes widely opened. "What are you doing here?" She looked at the Humes, baffled, still not understanding a thing.
"And what are you doing here?" Claire looked at both Julie and Desmond, being equally surprised by so many 'accidental' encounters. The couple only smiled in response and took their seats.
Soon enough, both Kate and Claire, still stunned and confused, sat down as well. Julie could only imagine them trying to figure out how it was that they'd been meeting the fellow passengers from the flight 815 ever since they'd landed. Then she just snuggled comfortably into Desmond, enjoying the concert. She had a feeling that soon they would all be moving on and she appreciated all the little moments that much more. Who knew where they would find themselves after leaving this realm?
"We're living tonight, aren't we?" she asked Desmond just to make sure.
"Yes, my dear, we are," he confirmed when holding her hand.
"It's happening so fast," she admitted.
"Life's always happening fast and what comes next brings no difference."
"When did you get so smart?" she teased him. He smiled to her and kissed her softly. Then they actually both stilled when seeing Charlie on the scene. And Charlie had his eyes only for Claire. When the blonde saw him, she suddenly jerked and stood up straight.
"I need to… I need to go to the bathroom!" she said in a panicked voice and walked away quickly when holding onto her protruding stomach.
"I'll better check up on her," Kate offered and was gone, too.
"Wait a moment, Julie," Desmond warned his wife who wanted to follow the women. "We can go after the concert. They need to be alone now, just trust me on this."
So she did. She always trusted him.
When Julie and Desmond finally made their way to the backstage room, they were welcomed by a picture which melted their hearts and brought tears into their eyes.
Claire had had her baby and she was with Charlie now, both of them smiling through tears as they finally remembered. Kate was standing nearby when being in a similar condition.
"Claire!" Julie called her friend's name and finally there was recognition on the blonde's face as she reached to Julie to hug her. "I missed you so much," Julie said.
"Me, too. Oh, God… How come we're all here like this?" Claire asked, clearly overwhelmed by everything that had happened. That was Desmond's field of expertise, Julie figured when leaving the explanations to him and proceeding to hugging Kate. Once they were all done with their displays of affection, Desmond said, "We need to go to the church now. Kate, you will have to stay and wait for Jack. Get him there. We'll be waiting."
Kate only nodded through her happy tears and they parted for the moment.
They were all there. They were in the church where Christian Shephard was about to have his funeral. Still, it was only an excuse to bring them all together. What really mattered was that they were all once again reunited. Julie looked around with tear-stricken eyes. All those familiar faces, all those people she knew from the island, some only briefly, but they'd all made an impact on her life. There were Sayid and Shannon; dear Shannon whom Julie liked so much and now hugged when crying and laughing in the same time; Sawyer, finally reunited with his beloved Juliet; Jin and Sun; John Locke… all the people Julie remembered, all the people she felt so strongly about. Rose and Bernard even informed her that once a blond man had wandered into their camp on the island. His boat had crashed and they'd quickly discovered that he knew Julie. In fact, he was the reason she'd been on the plane as he'd bought her the ticket. On hearing that Julie asked with beating heart what had happened to this man and heard with relief that it was exactly what she'd wanted for Alex. Then, finally, Kate made an appearance, but she was alone.
"Where is he?" Desmond asked her, clearly referring to Jack.
"You know him. No matter what his heart tells him, he still needs proof. He's in the back with his father," Kate explained.
"I'll go get him," Julie offered, finally feeling like it was the right moment to do so.
Desmond just nodded with a smile, so she didn't waste her time. She was still both scared and happy about the upcoming encounter and she tried to slow down as she was going to the back, maybe subconsciously wanting to stay in this realm for a little bit longer. Maybe she was scared of the unknown, of what would come next. But then again, why would she be scared? She was surrounded by the people she loved and there was truly nothing to be afraid of. Not when they were all finally together.
Eventually, Julie reached the right door and pushed it open, seeing Jack there who was just hugging his father. The very same father who was supposed to be dead, but then again, they were all already dead.
Christian let go of his son and directed himself towards the door, passing by Julie on his way and she was finally left alone with the younger Shephard. She was speechless as she saw him standing there. He was shaken up, fresh tears in his eyes. He tried to wipe them away when he spotted her.
"Julie," he said her name when smiling to her tentatively. "It's so good to see you."
"Jack." She made her way to him, he opened his arms and she just sunk into them.
"I missed you so much," she whispered into his ear, overcame with emotions she couldn't really explain.
"I'm so sorry for everything," he said when he released her from his arms. "I'm sorry for the way we left things between us."
They were both crying by now, just looking at each other.
"I forgave you a long time ago, Jack," Julie assured him. "You were just lost like we all were once," she said and hugged him again. He and Claire, when not counting Desmond and their children, were the most important people to her. And finally, they were all together, reunited.
"Maybe you did, but I still feel awful about everything," he admitted, ashamed of his own actions. "I'm sorry about the bomb and about forcing Desmond to go down to the heart of the island. I'm sorry for risking his life like that even when I thought that he wouldn't get hurt."
Julie only nodded in response, glad to hear Jack say it.
"I want you to know that right then and there I vowed that I would do anything to get you back home, that I would keep my promise. I died knowing that you and Desmond left. I saw the plane."
Julie nodded again with fresh tears glistening in her eyes.
"I never wanted you to die for us, Jack," she said.
"I know. It's not like I thought I would. I just… Locke got me. At least I died saving all of you. At least I managed to protect the island in the end. I was just so stubborn. In fact, it's taken me this long to finally learn how to let go," he admitted, chuckling through his tears and Julie followed his reaction.
"You know what they say, better late than never."
"Are you ready now?" Jack just asked when pointing the door.
"Are you?"
"Yeah, I think I finally am ready to let go."
"Good. Let's go, then."
Julie and Jack eventually made their way to the church, Jack smiling to her one last time and joining Kate whereas Julie grasped Desmond's hand and they all took their seats.
They were ready to move on. There was nothing left to say. Nothing left to do. There was just peace. The process of finally letting go.
And then Christian Shephard made his way through the aisle and opened the church's front door, bathing the interior in the warm light.
"What happens now?" Julie asked Desmond when looking into his eyes.
"Now we'll be one forever," he answered when the light enveloped them completely.
THE END