July 2005

I received a phone call from Sun's assistant yesterday, informing me that she went into labor and that she'd be unable to meet me in Sacramento for our meeting.

I wasn't gonna miss the birth of Sun and Jin's baby. I called Oceanic and booked a fight to Seoul with my Golden Pass that I had received as part of my settlement from the crash. But in the terminal, I ran into someone I didn't expect.

"Hurley? What are you doing here?" He was as big as ever, only today for the first time in my life, I saw him wearing a suit. He looked very dapper.

"I wasn't gonna miss this, dude," he says to me. "I was actually hoping not to run into anybody, but you're okay. Let's get on the plane."

Multiple people on the flight recognize me and Hurley and most of them become agitated with not one, but two or the Oceanic Seven on one flight.

When we land in Seoul, it's about midday. Hurley and I catch a cab and it takes us to Sun's apartment. When she opens the door, she smiles at the two of us. "I can't believe you came all this way," she says.

"Are you kidding?" Hurley asks. "Is anyone else coming?"

"No," Sun says, shaking her head.

"Good. So... where is she?"

"Oh, it was a girl?" I ask. "What did you name her?"

"Ji Yeon," Sun answers with a wide smile. "Come with me."

Baby Ji Yeon lays in a crib, rubbing her eyes with her little fists. "She's awesome," Hurley says.

"Thank you," Sun reaches into the crib and pulls Ji Yeon out. "Would you like to hold her?" she asks Hurley.

"I don't know, I kinda have two left hands."

"I trust you," she says, handing him the baby.

"Wow," Hurley says, rocking her in his big arms. "She looks just like Jin."

"Yes," Sun agrees, a look of sadness over her face. "She does."

Hurley hands me the baby and I cradle Ji Yeon carefully. She's so beautiful. I think about baby Eliza, Gil's daughter who was born two weeks ago, a little early. My niece. So many wonderful things that I've received since I've gotten back to the real world. I hand Ji Yeon back to Sun.

"So I guess we should, like, go see him," Hurley says.

"Of course," Sun agrees. She exits the apartment and we follow her, hailing a taxi and zipping to a cemetery.

Jin's grave sits in the ground. Of course there's no body under it. There wouldn't be. Not after what happened to him. Sun had the tombstone set up as a kind of memorial. Something that Ji Yeon could visit. Something that Sun could visit.

After we pay our respects Hurley and I say goodbye to Sun. Back on the plane, booking our flights together this time, Hurley asks me if I'm planning on attending Jack's father's wake next week.

"No, I don't think so. No one really want me there any way. It's not like I knew Christian."

"Come on, dude. You missed your dad's funeral, right? Maybe you could treat this as something for him instead of Jack's dad. I really just don't want to go alone."

I nod my head. "Alright. I'll be there."

Jack stands at a podium in a church, a large picture of his father, Christian beside him. "About ten months ago, I wrote what I wanted to say at my father's funeral on the back of a cocktail napkin at the Sydney airport. I don't remember what I wrote, but whatever it was he would've hated it." Everyone laughs at the joke. "My father couldn't stand eulogies. 'The only good thing about a wake is the free booze', he'd say." More laughter. "Not much of a wake because I won't even be able to bury him. So... What I wanna say is not for my father. It's for me. Good-bye, dad. I loved you. I miss you."

After Jack's mother talks we disperse from the church and Jack and Margo thank me for coming. I exit the church and wait on Kate, who's my ride back to the airport. I'm not staying the night. I've got some business stuff to see to. Kate and Jack exit the church last, and Kate has a shocked look on her face as she approaches me. "What's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing. We need to get you to the airport."

In the car, she hasn't calmed down. "Kate, what's the matter."

She takes a deep breath. "There was a woman at the funeral. I've never seen her before, but she told Jack something weird."

"What?"

"She said that she was Claire's mom. And that Christian was Claire's father."

It takes me a minute to grasp this information. "Jack and Claire are brother and sister?" I ask, confused.

"It would seem so."

I glance to the back seat, where Aaron is asleep in his car seat. "So that makes Jack Aaron's uncle."

Kate looks uncomfortable. "That's right."

"So that woman was Aaron's grandmother?"

"Tia, can we please not do this now?"

"When do you want to do it, Kate? Three months from now when I'm visiting LA and I stay in your guest room, where we do our best not to talk about anything?"

"What do you want me to say, Tia?" Kate says, pulling into the LAX parking lot. "That I'm sorry things aren't the same here as they were on the Island? Because I'm not. I know you and Hurley went to see Sun's baby. Did you think to invite me? No, you didn't and I know why. Sun doesn't want to see me. She doesn't want to see any of us. She blames Jack for Jin's death because Jack wouldn't turn around. And if that coasted me my friendship with her, then I'm okay with that. And you know what else? You haven't even asked me how I'm doing shaping my case with my lawyer for my murder trial. I guess I don't expect you to care though. Not when you're running one of the biggest investment companies in California."

I don't know what to say. "Kate, I—,"

"Whatever. You're gonna miss your flight."