Disclaimer I don't own Lost or any of its' characters or storylines. But I did come up with all the kids except Aaron and Clementine.
Author's Note This is the first part in my new series, a post-rescue setting featuring various Losties' children. Pairings are Jate/C&C/Jin&Sun, and Sawyer as a single parent. Please let me know if my portrayal of Aaron is realistic for a seven year old boy, and any other comments will be welcome. I'll be updating this and adding new chapters at (hopefully) regular intervals.
It was seven years to the day since they had been rescued from the island, and Claire Littleton-Pace woke up as early morning sunlight streamed through the windows of the lovely home she shared with Aaron, Charlie and their son Jake, who was five years old now. She shifted under the duvet, then slowly got up and pulled on a dressing gown from the chair next to the bed. She glanced over to Charlie's side of the bed, but he just rolled over and carried on sleeping. Claire smiled to herself and went to Aaron's room to wake him up for school. She knocked softly on the door, then pushed it open.
"Aaron, honey? You awake?"
The only answer she received was a moan from under the covers.
"Aaron, come on, you have to get up for school now."
"But Mum, I don't want to."
"Well, honey, you have to. But if you're up and dressed in, oh, five minutes, maybe I'll give you something special for lunch. Deal?"
"Okay."
"Good. Five minutes, remember" she said as she left the room and shut the door. As she walked to Jake's room, she smiled to herself again as she heard noises from Aaron's room that suggested a seven-year-old boy jumping out of bed and finding clothes.
She found Jake just waking up as well, so she helped him into his clothes – although he insisted he could do it himself.
Next stop was the kitchen downstairs, where she got out bowls, spoons, a box of cereal and a bottle of milk, laying them out neatly on the table just as Aaron came hurtling down the stairs.
"Can I have my treat Mum? Pleeease?"
"Well, you could have some of the cereal with sugar, or you could have a chocolate bar in your lunch, or you could have some ice-cream when you get back from school."
"Ummmm…. ice-cream!"
"You sure?"
"Yes, I want the ice-cream."
"Okay then. Now, sit down and eat your breakfast. Do you want me to help?"
"Mum! I can fix cereal myself now. I'm not a baby."
"Of course. I'll go and check on Jake and Daddy, you stay down here and eat your breakfast."
Claire left her son shoveling cereal into his mouth, as she went back upstairs. She looked in on her and Charlie's bedroom, but the bed was empty and she could here splashing sounds coming from their en-suite, so she guessed he would be down soon. Then she went to Jake's room and found him dressed, but playing with his toy dinosaurs on the floor. She picked him up, protesting, and finally got him downstairs and eating his breakfast.
Half-an-hour later, the boys were fed and ready for school, and Claire had fixed their lunchboxes and was getting them into the car. When they were both strapped into their carseats, she slipped into the driver's seat and started the car. Just before she pulled out, she turned around in her seat.
"Boys, do you remember what day it is today?"
Aaron's forehead creased in thought. "Uh…"
"The party…"
"Oh, yeah, the party's tonight! Cool!"
"After I come and pick you up from school, we'll go straight home instead of going to the store, and when we get there Uncle Jack and Aunty Kate will be there."
"Yay!"
Claire dropped her sons off at their elementary school, before heading for the supermarket to pick up the last bits of party food that they needed for the gathering that afternoon.
Later that day, Claire headed back to the school and collected Aaron and Jake to bring them home. As they pulled up outside the house, she recognised the SUV that Jack drove and Sawyer's Camaro parked on the driveway, and Kate was outside the SUV helping her own children out of the car. Claire parked, and undid Jake's seatbelt while Aaron climbed out of the car and ran over to Kate and her own son Chris, who was just a year younger than Aaron.
Claire walked over to Kate more slowly, holding Jake's hand, but Kate ran over to meet her. "Claire, how are you? It feels like ages since we've seen each other."
"I know, I never thought a few months could seem so long. And look at you – positively glowing, I'd say."
Kate blushed a little, and looked away, trying to avoid her friend's questioning gaze. "Kate? You're not…. Are you pregnant again?"
Kate nodded shyly, her chesnut hair covering her face. "Yeah. Only a few months though."
"Wow, this is great news … I guess it's a good thing I didn't get too much alcohol for today. Oh, who else knows? Just so I don't spoil anything."
"Just me and Jack. And you, obviously. We haven't even told Chris and Libby yet."
"Well, maybe you can do that tonight."
The two friends headed into the house, with Jake running ahead, and found everyone else inside. Jack and Charlie were standing by the piano, discussing Charlie's now very successful record shop, Jake had found Libby and they were playing together on the sofa, while Chris and Aaron had already run outside to the swingset, and Sawyer had been roped into pushing them. Clementine – now a very pretty twelve-year-old – was sitting on the sofa with the younger kids, engrossed in a book. Claire smiled when she saw that, thinking to herself that Clementine had obviously inherited her taste for reading from her father.
The final family to arrive at the little mini-reunion were Jin and Sun, who were driving down from upstate with their three children. When they did arrive, the children – six-year-old Miya and three-year-old twins Kami and Dai – came running in ahead of their parents, while Jin escorted Sun into the house slowly and helped her to an empty chair.
Claire was the first to greet them. "Sun! Oh, I'm so glad you could make it… oh." She looked at Sun's rounded abdomen. "Again?"
Sun nodded. "Yes, Claire. I am pregnant again. I can hardly believe it."
Claire took her friend to one side, whispering "It's not just you, you know. Kate's pregnant again as well, but she's not quite as far gone as you."
"Is she? I did not know. She did not mention anything about it, neither did Jack."
"Yeah, apart from us, no-one else knows, so keep quiet about it. And try to look surprised when they announce it."