Thanks again to all my reviewers! You guys are great. This chapter is the one that gave me the idea for this whole story, and I think it's my favourite. Hope everyone else enjoys it!
Chapter 4.
Desmond found himself back on an empty beach. There was no sign of a battle ever taking place. There was no sign of anything. Looking around, he saw the tents. They were in the same place as they'd always been, but they looked horribly abandoned.
Desmond took this to mean that the rescue had been successful, that they were safe, that no one was living on the island now. He couldn't consider the alternative.
But then, why was he here? What could he witness on an abandoned beach that would have any significant meaning? What lesson was he about to learn?
As he was pondering this, he heard a strange rumbling sound in the distance. It was vaguely familiar to him, though he had no clue what it was, or where he'd heard it before. The rumbling grew louder and louder, further intriguing him.
Just then, a helicopter appeared in the sky. As it came into land, Desmond realised that that was the noise he'd heard. He'd actually forgotten what they sounded like. The thought amazed him.
Desmond watched as three people stepped down from the helicopter. They were young, early twenties, Desmond thought. Two women and a man. They looked familiar, he thought, but he couldn't quite place it.
They drew closer. One of the women, a brunette, was a little further ahead than the others. Once he could see her face, Desmond saw that it was Kate. He was overwhelmed with relief when he realised this. She mustn't have been too badly hurt after all. She must have been rescued, along with Sawyer and the kids. They were all okay. Desmond felt like cheering. He'd grown very attached to that little family. He couldn't wait to meet them in real time.
Desmond wondered who the other two people were. They were still too far away for him to see their faces. All he could tell was that the other woman was blonde, and the man had dark hair.
Where was Sawyer? And the kids? Desmond wanted to see what they looked like now, if they still had their father's dimples, and if the girls still had their mother's curls. Maybe there'd even be another one, bringing the number up to four.
They were getting very close now. Desmond looked in the direction they were headed. The cemetery. That's where they were going. It looked much grander than he remembered. It had a proper fence around it, and the crude wooden crosses had been replaced by carved stone. There was a large monument in the middle, decorated with a plaque of some kind. Dead flowers were at its base. Desmond noticed that all three people were carrying small bouquets. With that, Desmond suddenly felt very somber. They'd come back to the island to visit the ones who hadn't left.
The blonde woman broke away from the others, and started running towards Desmond. He waved for a moment, before remembering that she couldn't see him. He still didn't quite know who she was.
"Molly, wait up!" yelled Kate. Only, it wasn't Kate. Desmond finally realised. If the blonde one was Molly, then the brunette had to be Laura. Desmond stared. She really did look like her mother. So did Thomas, he noticed. Molly stopped running, coming to a standstill very close to where Desmond was. She looked back at her brother and sister and smirked. That one's pure Sawyer, Desmond thought. She must give the other two hell.
Molly waited impatiently for the other two to catch up, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, idly hitting her thigh with her hand. Laura and Thomas didn't hurry for her benefit, Desmond noticed with amusement. Eventually, they reached her.
"Took you long enough." That smirk again. Laura rolled her eyes at her younger sister's comment. Thomas had a more direct way of dealing with it. He grabbed her, and before Molly had a chance to get away he had her in a headlock. Molly started playfully hitting Thomas, yelling at him to "get off me!". Desmond thought they could have continued like this for quite a while, had Laura not been there. "Enough! I'm so sick of you two midgets tackling each other every chance you get! We're at a cemetery. Show some respect." Desmond was amused to see that Sawyer's nickname for the twins, once so clearly disapproved by his elder daughter, had stuck, even though the twins were both now a few inches taller than their sister.
Thomas and Molly stopped what they were doing, and for a few moments the three stood side by side, staring solemnly at the scene in front of them. The girls had tears in their eyes, Desmond noticed.
Thomas noticed this too, and he put a comforting arm around each sister's shoulder. Desmond started to get the sense that there was something here, something big, but he didn't want to think about it. He couldn't, not till he had to.
"Come on," said Laura, and she opened the gate to the small graveyard, leading the others inside. Desmond followed, filled with dread at what he was about to see.
They headed over to a corner of the graveyard, where Desmond saw two marble headstones, side by side. "Miss you Momma, Daddy," Laura said softly, laying her flowers on the ground. The others followed suit, Molly crying now.
For a few minutes, Desmond watched, as the three siblings sat silently at the graves of their parents. It seemed like everything, including time itself, stood still, allowing them to grieve. An angry outburst by Thomas shattered the illusion.
"It isn't fair!" he yelled, kicking a rock hard against the fence. The girls didn't say anything. They understood what he was feeling too well to want to calm him down.
"They were only trying to protect us. What kind of person would kill two people for wanting to save their children?" His sisters still didn't respond. Molly got up, walked over to him, and laid her head on his shoulder, sharing his pain.
Laura walked over to another headstone, one Desmond hadn't taken much notice of. She put her hand on it, gently.
"Desmond saved us," she said, quietly. Suddenly, Desmond knew what she was going to say. Whose tombstone that was.
"He was the only one who noticed us. He was the only one who realised what was happening."
"He came out of nowhere" Molly remembered. "How did he know?"
"Doesn't matter now." Laura replied sadly.
"Yeah." Molly grew quiet again. Laura put her arm around her.
Desmond couldn't watch this scene any longer. He noticed that Thomas had wandered away a bit, so he followed him. Anything was better than starring at his grave, knowing that he was going to die to save these three people before him. The guilt that seemed to radiate from the girls was too much for him to bear.
They quickly noticed that their brother had disappeared, though. They walked over to him, Molly asking what was wrong. Thomas didn't answer at first, just stared out at the sea. When he spoke, his voice was raw with emotion.
"It should have been me." Desmond couldn't stand to hear any more, but at the same time, he knew he had to know how it happened. He listened, terror building inside him.
"We were so close to the helicopter. Jin and Hurley had come back, remember? They got you two on board. Desmond was helping me. We were so close. Then one of Them yelled out that he'd rather we died than escape the island. He shot at me, but Desmond got in the way. I think he did it on purpose. He got shot instead of me. Jack pulled me onboard the helicopter, and then that was it. We just left him there. And Mom and Dad."
"It wasn't your fault, Tom." Molly said softly.
"I know. I just wish it was different." They were quiet again. Desmond was in shock. At least three of them had been left there to die, if they hadn't been killed instantly. How many more had there been? He wondered who had come back the first time, to gather the bodies and bury them. Who was responsible for the memorial site that had been built for them? He realised he'd probably never know.
He watched the three, as they headed over to the tents. They seemed surprised to see most of them still standing. They'd cheered up considerably since leaving the graveyard. Molly and Tom chased each other around, and at one stage they picked up Laura and were threatening to throw her in the ocean. She must have said something to them to make them change their minds, but Desmond wasn't sure what. Whatever it was, they put her down very quickly.
They ran back towards Desmond. He thought they'd be getting ready to leave again, but apparently not. "Let's see if we can find Mom and Dad's secret waterfall." Suggested Molly. Tom wasn't sure. "We've looked a hundred times, and we've never found it. How do you know it's even real? They could have been making it up."
"It's real," insisted Molly. "The way they talked about it, it had to be real."
"Fine," said Tom. Molly grabbed his arm and started to drag him away.
"Are you coming?" he asked Laura. She shook her head. "No, you guys go ahead. I'll wait here." Desmond got the idea that she wanted to be alone.
The twins ran off, pausing at the edge of the jungle as they argued over which way to look. Once they'd finally disappeared, Laura headed back towards the cemetery. Desmond followed her. She went over to his own grave (he shuddered at the thought of that) and knelt down.
"Penny says hello. She's sorry she couldn't come this year. But she said to say she loves you, and she'll definitely be here next year." Desmond had tears in his eyes at those tenderly spoken words. It was too much for him, too much information.
Laura went back to her parents. She sat down, and started talking to the headstones. From what he heard, it sounded like her and various others came back to the island every year on this day. This year, it was just the three of them.
He listened as Laura told her parents about what the other survivors were doing. What she and the twins had done in the last year. Apparently, Molly and Tom were being forced into going to college by Jack, who said it would be good for them. But neither wanted to be there. Desmond laughed as Laura told her parents how they would skip class regularly to go help at Jin's restaurant.
Desmond's tears started up again as he heard Laura tell her parents she got married two months ago. "He's nice. You'd like him. He wanted to come here with me today, but I said I wanted to come alone. I wanted to tell you something, I haven't even told him yet." Laura started to cry again. "I'm pregnant."
"I need you, Mom. I don't know how to do this, you never had the chance to teach me." Desmond cried with her, and wished more than anything he could conjure up the two people this girl wanted.
"I probably won't be able to come next year. But I'll make sure Tom and Molly do. I'll give them a picture of the baby to give you, and I'll make sure they tell you all about it. I'm gonna name it after you. I know you said you didn't like that, Daddy. I remember you said once that new babies shouldn't be saddled with the weight of the dead, and that's what happens when you name a baby after someone who had a hard life. But you were good people. And you deserve to be honored. This is the only way I know how."
Laura started to get up again, sobbing. "I wish I could remember you better." She touched their headstones, leaning on them, crying. Desmond knew she wished they were there to hold her. But she was alone.
After a few minutes, she composed herself. Smiling a little now, she said goodbye to her parents. Desmond though she'd leave the cemetery then. But she didn't. She went back to his grave one last time. She stared at it. Then she touched it lightly, and whispered so softly Desmond was hardly sure of what he was hearing. "Thank you."
With that, Desmond felt himself rushing back in time, back to where it all started.
So, that was the last Desmond flash. From now on, the story will be told in real time, still from Desmond's pov. Please review, I almost cried while I was writing this, so I'd really love to know what your reactions were.