Lost Hope
Chapter 16
The engines whirr loudly as a lady named Ms. Decker comes into the cargo hold area where we are all sitting.
"We're coming in for a landing." She told us
Jack was trying to get some shut-eye, Hurley stares alertly, Kate holding Aaron in her lap and Sun look on listlessly, as does Sayid, Me and Desmond are sitting next to Jack.
"It's a military facility just west of Honolulu. It's completely private. Your-your families are already here." She said and and I continued staring at nothing, my family was all gone. "Now there's a lot of press that wanna speak to you, but as far as Oceanic is concerned, you don't have to speak to any reporters."
"We'll talk to 'em." Jack said
"Is that all right with all of you?" she asked and we didnt respond
"It's fine. We all agreed. We just-we just wanna get it over with." Jack told her.
"Okay. Um, they're referring to you as the "Oceanic Seven". That's not the best branding as far as we're concerned, but it's catchy. We'll see you on the ground." She said, Ms. Decker gingerly tiptoes in her heels back to her seat in the cockpit and the plane descends
"We all know the story. If we get any questions that we don't wanna answer, or that we can't answer, let's just keep our mouths shut. It's okay. They'll-they'll think that we're in shock." Jack said to us once she was gone.
"We are in shock, Jack." I said to him
"Well... then this should be easy." He said to me.
The plane approaches the runway on a developed island. We feel its tires screech as it touches down. Aaron fusses in Kate's lap, Sun and Sayid sit quietly. The plane rolls to a halt and Jack unbuckles himself, we all follow suit. The cargo bay door opens on the plane, revealing daylight, and a number of figures who step into view. Four Coast Guard men carry a ramp into place. Hurley gets up first and so do we, Hurley is the first to step out, and I see him waving hello to two people I assumed was his mother and father who rush up to greet him, then I see Sun's parents standing just beside them, Hurley hugs his parents, and I see Jack hug his mother, and I hear employees applaud the reunion. Hurley grabs Sayid introducing him to his parents, and Hurley's mother kisses Sayid on the cheek. Sun's mother looks her over and Kate was standing there by herself with Aaron in her arms, I move over to her and put my hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, we may not have anyone here but you still have family Kate." I told her and she smiled at me, we were her family, no matter what.
A press conference is being held us and Mrs. Decker starts speaking.
"Based on the location of the wreckage, our best estimate of the crash site is..." She clicks a button, "Here. From there, the survivors were carried by the ocean's current to..." clicks again. "here-an uninhabited island in the Lesser Sunda Islands known as Membata. As you've all read in your briefing books, on day 103..." click. "a typhoon washed up the remnants of an Indonesian fishing boat, including basic supplies and a survival raft. On day 108, the remaining seven survivors, including Ms. Austen's baby which she gave birth to on the island of Membata, used this raft to journey here-" click "an island called Sumba. They then came ashore near a village called Manukangga. This photo was taken by the local fisherman who found them. Once it was discovered who they were, they were transported to Honolulu by the U.S. Coast Guard. As you can imagine, this has been an extraordinarily trying experience. They have, however, agreed to answer a few questions. So, ladies and gentlemen, the survivors of Oceanic 8-1-5." She said and all the reporters shouted at once.
"Yes." Mrs. Decker said to a reporter who stood up
"Dr. Shephard! Dr. Shephard! Can you tell us what it was like when the plane hit the ocean? Uh, how you survived."
Camera flashes went off, "Um...It-it all happened really fast. I remember the impact. I remember the-the plane filling up with water. A group of us got to the emergency door, and, um... got out before it went down."
"And those of you who survived-you swam to the island?" The reporter asked.
"No. We had, uh, cushions. We had some life jackets. We were in the water for over a day before the current took us in. By then, there was only nine of us left." He said.
"What happened to the other two?"
"One of them, his name is Boone Carlyle, suffered tremendous internal injuries and died a few days after the crash, Charlie Pace, he drowned a few weeks before we were able to leave." Jack said and I felt a tear form in my eye but I blinked it way, I couldnt think about Charlie right now, or Boone, or anyone else for that matter.
"Over here! Over here, please!" A female reporter shouted. "Considering the ordeal that you've all been through, you look pretty healthy having been on an island for more than a hundred days."
"Was that directed at me, Dude?" Hurley said and the reporters laughed
The female reporter continued, "Well, actually, Mr. Reyes, you were worth more than $150 million at the time of your... death. How does it feel to know you're going to get all that money back?"
"I don't want it back, any of it. That money was bad luck." He told her
A female reporter got up and started speaking in Koren talking to Sun
"What did she say?" Someone asked.
"Can somebody translate that?" Another asked
I saw Sun lean forward to the microphone, "She asked if my husband was one of the people who died on the island." cameras went off and Sun paused, " The answer is no. He never made it off the plane." My heart broke for her, if it had been Desmond I dont know what I would do.
"Are you aware of the situation in Iraq, Mr. Jarrah? Do you have any plans to return?" a reporter asked Sayid
"There is nothing for me in Iraq." He answered
"Mr. Shephard, now that you are home, what are your plans?"
"I haven't really thought too much about it, uh - my father died in Sydney, I was bringing him home for the funeral when the plane crashed. Even though the body is... - I'd like to put him to rest." He said.
"Ms. Johnson, before you got on the plane to Los Angeles you finished up your residency at Macquire University Hospital in Sydney, what will you do with your degree now that you're back?" A reporter asked me and I looked at Desmond then back at the reporter.
"I dont know, probably travel." I told them and leaned back, I just wanted this over with.
"Ms. Austen, what was it like giving birth on the island?"
"Scary" was all she said.
"Your son-uh, Aaron? How old is he now?" A male reporter asked
"He's just a little over 5 weeks." She said
"So that would've made you about six months pregnant when the U.S. Marshal service apprehended you in Australia for an outstanding murder warrant. Is that correct?" He asked
"Uh, I'm afraid Ms. Austen's legal issue is off the table. Next question." Mrs. Decker said
"Mr. Jarrah, given the amazing circumstances surrounding the survival of you seven, is it possible there are any other survivors from the crash yet to be discovered?"
"No. Absolutely not." He answered.
After it was over we headed back behind the curtain and I heard Jack telling Kate she did good and Ms. Decker told Sayid that someone was outside waiting for him, I had a gut feeling I wasnt going to see Desmond at all today, it had been 4 days since I saw him and last I heard he was still on Penny's ship. I was standing by Hurley and Sun when Ms. Decker came up and me that I had a visitor, I looked at her confused and when she turned to point towards the doors that Sayid just walked out of I saw Desmond standing there. I smiled and took off running jumping into his arms and he held me tightly kissing my hair and I cried into his shoulder, I then looked at him and he pulled my face into a passionate kiss then placed his forehead on mine, at this moment I didnt even care if any reporters saw us, all I cared about was the fact that Desmond was holding me again. We all were driven to the hotel that Oceanic had set us up in and found our rooms, I opened my door to the one bedroom suite and looked around, the room was nice. It had a little kitchen area diagnal from the living room that had two chairs and a table next to it, me and Desmond walked down the hall and opened the door to the bedroom. I wasnt one for fancy hotels, I usually just settled for cheap ones, but this one was amazing, I put my bag down and walked over to the window looking out at the beautiful view. I felt Desmond come up behind me and wrap his arms around my waist and lightly kissed me on the neck before resting his chin on my shoulder.
"Are you doing okay?" He asked and I put my hands on his.
"I am now, still feels weird though, I keep expecting to wake up and be back in my tent on the Island." I said and he turned me around to face him.
"It'll be okay soon enough, we're here now and we can start our lives." He told me pulling me into a light kiss the I pulled away from him and looked past his shoulder and smiled.
"What? What is it?" He asked and I didnt say anything, I released from his arms and did a short run over to the bed and jumped on it laying down with my arms above my head and smiled. I heard him laugh over by the window then he came over and layed down next to me hovering just slightly over me.
"Have I told you yet today that I love you?" He asked me and I leaned up and kissed the corner of his mouth.
"No you havent but I know you do, just like I love you, I always will." I said and he moved his hands and pinned mine where they were and kissed me deeply and I sighed into the kiss.
The next morning I woke up to Desmonds naked body snuggling up to mine, I turned around slowly trying not to disturb him and when I was facing him I moved my mouth to his and lightly ran mine against his and I was taken by surprise when I felt his arm tighten around me and he captured my lips in his and I giggled.
"Good morning to you too mister." I said and he opened his eyes and smiled.
"Good morning love, how did you sleep?"
"I slept better then I have in a long time, it feels weird being on an actual bed that's not made out of airplane seats or on a freighter." I told him and kissed him again.
"Well it's comfy beds from here on out." He said and kissed me deeply then pulled away getting off the bed pulling on his boxers, he looked over at me and I pouted.
"Why did you leave?" I asked him with the sad puppy dog look and he laughed a little.
"Because I have a surprise for you, but stay right here." He told me and started walking out the bedroom door.
"You know I hate surprises." I told him and he turned to look at me.
"This is a good one love, I promise." He said and walked out the door and returned holding an envelope in his hands and sat down on the bed, "While I was on Penny's boat I told her about how we were getting married but one of us had to register, well that can take months and I want you to be my wife now." He said and opened the envelope handing me two pieces of paper, Penny pulled some strings and got me registered. I'm a legal US citizen, I know it's not how I would expect it but she wanted to do something nice for Emmit's niece and future god child." He said with a laugh and I looked at him feeling happy and confused at the same time, I unfolded the other piece of paper, it was a marriage license.
"Desmond" Was all I was able to say and he took the papers out of my hand and replaced them with his.
"Freya I've never been more sure of anything in my life until I met you. What do you say we get married right now and just leave like we planned?" He asked me and pulled him into a kiss.
"Lets go to the court house, I dont want a big fancy wedding I just wanna be your wife." I said and he kissed me again.
The next week after we had finally gotten married, I bought us a 2009 Selene 55 trawler boat with some of the money that Oceanic had given us and we finally set sail to travel. We headed from Honolulu sailing towards Scotland, were I wanted our child to be raised.
Three years later
I wake up and hear Desmond muttering and I turn on the lamp Desmond pants and wakes up looking over at me.
"Are you all right?" I asked him putting a hand on his shoulder
"I was on the Island." He said softly still panting, "I was on the Island."
I kissed him on the shoulder, "We've been off the Island for three years now." I rested my chin on his shoulder, "You're safe now, we're safe now. It was just a dream."
"It wasn't a dream, Freya." he said looking at me solemnly, then whispers, "It was a memory."
He gets up out of the bed and walks to the boats steering wheel pulling on a shirt and I follow him, "Desmond, where are you going? Des?"
Desmond hits the button pulling up the anchor.
"Desmond? What are you doing?" I asked him and he looked at me.
"We're leaving." He said starting up the boat
"Leaving to go where?" I asked
"Oxford."