Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I only own the story in my head.
Summary: They changed everything. Flight 815 never crashed, the island is underwater, and the same people are living different lives. So they think, because fate as other plans.
Sideways Stories from the Castaways
John
John Locke sat in his chair next to Helen watching the game. He promised one of his students that he'd try to catch one of his games. He was only a sub but he really liked the kid, he was smart, polite and a hard worker. Plus this would take his mind off of thinking about Dr. Shephard's call. He tried not to think about because he didn't want to get his hopes up, but Jack seemed so confident that he could do it and if he had other success then maybe he could.
The kid was good, he had already scored more than half of the teams 29 points and it was only the second period. He didn't know much about the school's basketball team but he had heard they were good.
He looks over to the floor where the coach was standing and shaking his fists as one of the players gets a foul. He had white hair that was thinning at the top and wore a collared shirt with black slacks. He heard the other teachers call him Mr. Friendly. He didn't know if that was his real name or a nickname. He guessed it was real because the nickname didn't fit with the way he was yelling at the boys when they were winning.
His cell phone rings and he looks at the caller ID to see that it was Dr. Shephard. He tells Helen and wheels himself away into the hallway to take the call. "Hello" he says into the phone.
"John, this is Dr. Shephard" Jack says.
"Yes, I know. What's the verdict?" John asks with a small laugh, he figured out it was best to joke about these things and not take them too seriously. He gave up in miracles a long time ago.
"It is good news, John. I believe I can fix you. Of course it will require major surgery and the risks are the same with any surgery. If you are interested we can do this as soon as Monday."
It took Locke awhile for that to settle in. Dr. Shephard was saying he could fix him, that he could walk again. He and Helen had talked about it earlier and she was as supportive as always and told him that she didn't care if he walked with her on their wedding day or she wheeled him, she just wanted to be with him. She also said if he was going to this he was going to this for himself, so he could all the things he wanted to do. She said they could even go back to Australia and he could go on his walkabout.
"Ok" John says weakly. "Ok" he says again stronger. "Let's do this."
"Great, I'll see you on Monday. Remember not to eat or drink anything for twelve hours before the surgery." Jack tells him. "If you do if any questions please don't hesitate to call." He says before they hang up.
John rolls back to the bleachers with a sad look on his face. Helen turns to him. "Was that Dr. Shephard?" she asks. "What did he say?"
He keeps the sad look until it slowly breaks out into a smile. "He said he could do the surgery." He says unable to keep his excitement hidden. Helen covers her mouth with her hands as tears start to form in the corner of her eyes. She stands up and get in his lap to hug him.
She gets off and they return their attention to the game. The games excitement level had picked up since the other team had tied the score while he was gone.
"Basket by Walt Lloyd!!" the announcer screams as Walt comes down from the dunk.
"That's my boy!" the man next to them says smiling proudly.
They look at him and smile and applaud with the rest of the crowd. Walt was only a freshman but already making headlines as the leading scorer. His height helped him out he was very tall for his age.
"Michael" the man says to them holding out his hand.
"John Locke and this Helen" he tells him shaking his hand.
"Locke, my boy talks about you, you're the new sub right?" Michael asks.
"Yes" He says a little surprised. He didn't think he made that much of an impact on the young boy. He had subbed a few classes with Walt and always enjoyed talking to him. But he figured like most kids his age he forgot about an old man as soon as he left the classroom.
They watch Walt go up for another dunk as another boy tries to block him, they see him come down hard and crumble to the floor. The crowd stands up to see what happened, as John tries to strain his neck to see through the people that gathered in front of him, Walt lies on the floor holding his leg in pain.
"WAAALLLTTT!" Michael screams and rushes down the bleachers to his fallen son. Coach Friendly and the trainer were already at his side.
A/N: I took some liberites and made Walt a little older, because if Jack can have a teenage son, then a few things have changed and Walt was born eariler.