"Sir, I think you'd better take a look at this." Stephen Rawley handed over his binoculars. Captain Walker took the proferred item and held them up to his face. What he saw through the magnified lenses astounded him; in the distance, barely visible despite the binoculars, was a group of people – maybe forty or so – waving frantically.

"It's definitely coming closer. You can see the funnel-chimney things!" Charlie chattered excitedly.

"Are you sure?" Hurley asked, not able to see the ever-growing silhouette of the cruise liner in the dusk.

"Definitely. All we need to do is wait and they'll be here."

They waited all night, taking it in turns to sleep and keep watch on the cruise liner as it slowly neared the island. Finally, as the early morning sun rose behind them all of the survivors could clearly see the enormous cruise liner a few hundred meters off shore, where the water was deep enough. They sat in small groups on the beach, talking nervously and excitedly. And then, from around the side of the ship, a small life-boat appeared. People got to their feet as it approached their beach and grounded against the wet sand. Inside the boat were four people; the captain of the cruise liner, the ship's doctor and two members of the crew. They clambered out of the lifeboat, mouths wide open in shock at what they were seeing; more than forty people, dirty and dishevelled standing in a crowd. The four men approached them, and Jack took a step forward, his mind buzzing as he tried to think of words to describe what the hell had happened to them.

"You've been surviving here for all this time?" Captain Walker asked again. He still couldn't believe it; hope of finding the survivors of Oceanic 815 was something that seemed to have been abandoned by the whole world. Searches for the missing plane, it's passengers and crew had been carried out for almost two months but it had been as good as useless from the beginning. Contact had been lost with the plane when it was in the air, no-one knew where it could have gone down. And yet, here he was, sat interviewing Dr. Jack Shepherd, the spinal surgeon who had been transporting his father's body back to Los Angeles.

"How long has it been?" Jack asked, supporting his head in one hand. The adrenaline that had rushed through his system (and everyone else's) since they had spotted the cruise liner the night before was suddenly gone and he was left feeling drained and overwhelmed.

"Since the crash?" Captain Walker replied gently, sensing Jack's exhaustion. Jack could barely nod.

"Almost 10 months," Captain Walker answered, "Welcome to June 2005." Jack smiled weakly, feeling a wave of tiredness rush over him again and Captain Walker laid a comforting hand on his arm.

"You should get some rest. Mr. Marshall will show you to a room."

"Jack?" Jack heard the familiar voice even through his deep sleep. A gently knock on the door roused him further. He groaned slightly and looked at the clock on the cabinet beside his bed. It was almost 4.30 in the afternoon – he had slept for almost the whole day. He felt the softness of his bed – a real bed, not some airline chair or that pathetic excuse for a bunk in the hatch. Reluctantly he eased himself up. Padding over the carpet, (carpet!) he laid a hand on the door handle, turning it and pulling the door open a crack. Standing in the corridor in front of him, wearing a pair of pale blue cotton pyjamas was Kate. In spite of his tiredness he grinned to see her, freshly washed and with slightly damp hair, wearing clean clothes for the first time in he didn't know how many months. As hard as Rose had tried, with a limited supply of washing powder and no real washing machine, it was hard to get clothes properly clean.

Kate smirked back, sidling past him and settling herself onto his bed, lying back slightly and resting her head on his pillows.

"Where'd you get the jammies?" Jack asked, sitting next to her. Kate laughed,

"I could ask you the same thing!" Jack glanced down and for the first time realised that instead of the jeans and grey-ish t-shirt he had been wearing when they were rescued, he was wearing dark grey sweat pants and a bright-white wifebeater.

"Huh." He muttered, trying to remember getting changed. Seeing Jack's puzzled expression Kate helped him out;

"The passengers on the cruise all donated clothes for us. And rooms; as far as I know they're bunking up so we all get a room each."

"And you decided to bunk with me?" Jack joked.

"I'm not used to sleeping on my own anymore. And as comfortable as the bed is, I ended up sleeping on the floor!" Jack laughed at her and she pushed him playfully. They fell into a kiss, the one familiar thing they had in this unfamiliar place. While she had tried to make light of sleeping on the floor, she really had been unable to get comfortable sleeping in the bed. It felt so foreign, all of this did. Walking around in the clean pjyamas, feeling thick carpet underneath her feet. Even simple things like brushing her teeth, and looking at herself in the mirror – they should have only take seconds, minutes, but she found herself moving in slow motion, as if something inside her was terrified that if she moved too fast she would suddenly jolt awake and it would all be a sick and twisted dream. The shower had been more than welcome and she had stood for what felt like hours underneath the deliciously hot water, washing her hair over and over again, relishing the feeling of washing away the dirt that had accumulated from the eight months on the island.

A knock on the door interrupted them and Jack pulled away. He sat up, pulling Kate with him. She smoothed down her hair and tried to breathe more slowly.

"Come in." Jack called and the door opened tentatively. Ellie entered, hair damp like Kate's – she too had taken an extra long shower – but tied into two plaits either side of her head. She was wearing a floor-length white skirt and a pale green tanktop, and white crochet pumps. The two necklaces she had worn on the island; her locket and her name-chain, were hanging around her neck.

"Am I interrupting?" she asked, noticing Jack and Kate both sitting on the bed.

"No, of course not."

"They're serving dinner downstairs in ten minutes. You should both get dressed." Jack looked around him, trying to find his clothes. Ellie pointed to the chair by his dresser, where a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater had been folded and left, a pair of his size sneakers placed on top of them. "I'll see you in a bit." Ellie smiled and left the room, leaving the door open slightly behind her.

"Can you believe this?" Noah asked, helping himself to a third plateful of chicken and vegetables. Ellie shrugged non-commitally. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Her plate was still practically full, she'd just picked at the chicken and pushed the rest of the food around the plate. He laid a hand on hers underneath the cover of the dining table and squeezed her fingers reassuringly; knowing what she was feeling. He followed her gaze to the corner of the room where Jack and Kate were conversing with the Captain. Jack held Kate protectively around the middle, and they were both nodding with what seemed like relief at what he was saying.

Captain Walker had agreed to give the survivors privacy from the cruise passengers, and as well as assigning them their own bedrooms all on the same floor, he had set aside two of the larger lounges as their communal rooms – none of the other passengers would be permitted to enter. Dining tables had been moved into one of the rooms, and this was where most of the survivors were now, chatting and relaxing – finally able to entertain the thought of getting back to their old lives. Five people were missing from the room; Rose, John Locke, Claire and baby Aaron and a heavily pregnant Sun were all in the medical wing being observed by the ship's doctor. He believed that they were all in fine health, miraculously, but wanted to be sure.

"Excuse me, if I could have your attention please?" Captain Walker announced clearly to the room. Everyone hushed, and Jack and Kate walked over to where Ellie and Noah were sitting. Ellie moved to sit on Noah's lap, and Kate took her seat. Jack sat in the empty chair next to her, his fingers laced with hers.

"We have changed course and are heading to Los Angeles. We should be there within a week, weather permitting. In the mean time, I have contacted the United States Coastguard and they are controlling things back in LA – all of your families are being notified that you have been found and they will be waiting for you when we dock. I hope you all get a good night sleep, please don't hesitate to ask a crew member if you need anything; anything at all. Thank you." Captain Walker nodded imperceptibly at Jack and Kate, and left the room. The air buzzed with excited conversation, the only people who were silent were Jack, Kate, Ellie and Noah. Ellie, still seated on Noah's lap was shaking like a leaf, tears falling down her cheeks. Kate also, was crying, struggling not to make a scene. Jack, though on the edge of breaking down himself, let his doctor's insticts take over and he and Noah led Kate and Ellie out of the dining room and towards Jack's room.

"I'm not going to jail. I'm not going to jail." Kate kept repeating, as if she couldn't quite believe it, and saying it over and over again would somehow make it seem more real. Jack held her tighter.

"No, you're not." Even though they were both in shock he still felt elated. When Captain Walker had asked to speak to Kate privately he had felt his heart sink. Kate had taken a hold of his hand and he had followed her, listened as the Captain told Kate that he had been in contact with the U.S. Marshalls, and they had held a hearing. He had held Kate upright as her legs went weak and had asked Captain Walker to repeat himself when he said that the hearing had decided to drop all charges against her.

"Ellie?" Kate asked, snapping out of her reverie long enough to notice Ellie, huddled against Noah on the floor of the room, his arms tightly wrapped around her, soothing her as much as he could. Ellie barely noticed Kate saying her name, she was crying too hard. "Ellie?" Kate asked again, moving across the room to the teenager. Noah loosened his hold on her and Ellie went slightly limp at the loss of contact. Kate lifted Ellie's chin, forcing Ellie to look at her.

"Why are you crying?" she asked quietly, leading Ellie to the bed and sitting her down in the middle of it. Ellie drew her knees to her chest and tried to stop crying, gulping down air but coughing instead. Kate wrapped her arms around the sobbing girl, just as she had all those months ago when Ellie had first arrived on the island.

"I don't...I haven't...he said." Ellie stumbled over her words. Jack and Noah, sat on the edges of the bed – close to the two women but apart from them at the same time.

"You don't what?" Kate's voice was barely more than a whisper. Ellie took a deep breath and tried again.

"He said...he said that..families would be waiting. He said they'd be waiting for us but he's wrong. There isn't anybody waiting for me. I don't have a family." Ellie broke down into further sobs and Kate held her tighter, holding Ellie's chin in her hands and again forcing the young woman to look at her.

"You have us."

Ok, so that was chapter 19 of 20 - I have one more chapter to go. I really really hope you liked this chapter (and the story) and would very very muchly appreciate reviews!!! Please and thank you!!! Sarah