Author's Notes:

Thank you for reading! This story has been really fun to write.

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He knocked on the door, and when she opened, he held a big bag up in the air. "I got dinner. Anyone hungry?"

"Thank you, James. We're starving." She said, stepping out of the way, so he can come in.

She sat down at the table, "Aaron, let's turn the TV off for a minute and eat something, baby."

The little boy turned around, "I'm hungry, mommy." He got up and walked over to his mom, climbing up onto her lap.

James got the food out of the bag, and they all just started eating. Kate looked at her little man eating. Thank god he wasn't a picky eater, she thought.

"This is really good James, thank you." She looked up from her food, and smiled at him.

"Thank Richard, he went and got dinner for everyone."

"So what did I miss?"

"You missed a very interesting movie, starring Hurley." He looked up and smiled.

"Really? So what Richard said is true then?" She didn't smile.

He realized why she didn't smile. She was thinking about Jack. "Yeah, he told the truth." He didn't smile anymore either.

The little boy looked up at his mom, "Who is he?" pointing at James. She looked up and smiled at him.

He smiled at the little boy sitting across the table from him, put his hand out to shake, and mimicking Frank earlier with Charlie, "I'm James, and who are you?" The boy took his hand to shake.

"I'm Aaron." He said smiling. He looked up at his mom, when he was done eating and said "Can I watch cartoons, mom." She nodded.

When the little boy went back to watch TV, James followed him with his eyes, than looked up at Kate and said, "Anything I need to know, freckles?"

"What?" She looked confused.

"Aaron, any instructions I should have before you take off tonight and leave him here with Claire and me?" He looked almost worried. "Like I said before, I really don't know nothin' 'bout takin' care of a kid."

She looked over at the little boy with sad eyes, and then looked at James. "He's a good sleeper, he's not a picky eater. He'll tell you if he's hungry or thirsty, or if he has to go to the bathroom. He likes to color, likes to watch cartoons, he likes to be held, likes to be read to. Overall, he's a really good kid, besides the random tantrums here and there."

"Tantrums? And what do I do when he has one of those?"

"Nothing. You can try to calm him down by holding him, sometimes it works, but sometimes you just have to leave him alone, you know."

He smiled, "Sounds like you, freckles. Sometimes you can be calmed by holding you in my arms, and sometimes you just need to be left alone for a while." He looked at her knowing.

"You know that saying about throwing rocks in a glass house, James." She smirked.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." He smiled, and looked over at the kid. "I got this bad feeling that he's going to be a handful, especially with Claire still mumbling nonsense throughout the day."

She reached across the table and held his hand. "Thank you so much for doing this. I know you'll be fine, just …" She sobbed, "Please don't leave him alone with Claire, not yet. Promise me, James."

He looked into her eyes and reassured her, "I already told you. I promise. I'll keep him save." He pulled his hand out from underneath hers and got up, "Well, I leave you too alone, you only have about one hour left Richard said."

"I think you should stay here."

"Why?" He looked confused.

"He needs to get to know you a little, don't you think?" She looked at him.

He looked at the little boy, "I suppose so." He just stood there, not really knowing what to do. "So what now?" He asked.

She got up off her chair too, "Let's just sit with him, and watch Cartoons, or do you have something better to do?"

"Nope, I cleared my schedule to watch Cartoons." He smiled, and they both walked over to Aaron.

She picked him up and sat down on the loveseat, putting the boy on her lap. James sat down beside her, looking over at her with that kid in her arms. This just seemed surreal. Her sitting there, so content with that kid. His mind went back to that fight all those years ago.

You didn't want a baby any more than I did.

His own mean voice echoed in his head. And something dawned on him.

What if she got so mad at me because she had wanted a baby?

He smiled a sad smile at the thought that she had actually wanted a baby with him. At least all those years ago she did.

"Hey baby, when this one's over, we're gonna turn the TV off for a little while."

"Why mommy?"

"Because we've been watching for hours."

They watched Cartoons a little bit longer, and James tried his best to interact with Aaron. Teasing him if he even knew what they were saying, since all the Cartoons were actually in a foreign language. For a little while, the boy even scooted onto James' lap to explain in detail about the Cartoon they were watching, as much as a three year old can explain anything in detail. It actually brought a smile to James' face, that little guy sure was cute. But he still had a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that he was that same little baby from all those years ago.

When Richard walked in, and told her that it was time. James got up, handed Aaron back to her and said, "I'll give you a minute."

He watched with Richard from the other side of the room, as she's trying to explain to Aaron, that she has to go away, but not for long. He heard his name in those almost whispered words a few times, and saw the little guy turn and look at him more than once. She didn't cry, to his surprise. But it made sense, if she'd cry that little boy would think something's wrong. So she didn't, although he had no idea how she managed not to cry. This had to be one of the saddest things he'd ever had to witness. Knowing that the next time he saw her, he wouldn't come running into her arms yelling 'mommy'. He felt so sorry for her.

Kate walked over to them, and handed Aaron to James.

"I'll see you soon, baby. I love you." She said. "I love you too, mommy."

Kate looked up at James, "I'll see you soon too I hope."

"I'll look you up, when I'm back in the states."

Kate kissed Aaron one last time, then said, "Bye bye, baby."

"Bye bye mommy." The little boy said, waving.

And she walked out of the room with Richard. There he was, looking around the room, Aaron in his arms.

"You wanna watch some more Cartoons, bud?"

"Mommy said no more cartoons."

"Well, Mommy just left. What do you say, you and me chilling in front of the TV?"

The boy smiled and nodded his head. Hell, this isn't so hard; he can do this, as he walked back towards the loveseat and got comfortable. He put Aaron on the now empty seat beside him, but it only was a matter of minutes until he'd climbed right back onto James' lap. He can do this, piece of cake.

Several hours later

He opened the soda can and handed it to the three year old in front of him, "Don't spill it all over you this time, alright?"

"Okay" He answered, and after just one sip of the carbonated beverage, he began to hiccup.

He smiled when he saw the boys face after every hiccup.

"I wanna go sleep." Aaron said, handing the soda can back to James.

"Sounds like a great idea, I'm tired too. It's been a long day."

He helped Aaron put his pjs on that Carole had packed for him, and tucked the kid in, in Kate's room, that was now painfully vacant.

"Alright then, don't get out of bed. I wake you up when it's time for breakfast. Good night."

"Mommy's not gonna tell me goodnight?" The boy looked up at him.

"Well, your mom's …" Crazy, comes to mind, but he doesn't say it. "You're mom's not feeling so good tonight, she needs to rest for a couple days, okay. But she'll be here in the morning, having breakfast with you. Okay." Aaron nodded, but looked disappointed.

He ruffled up the boys' hair, then turned towards the door, turned the light off and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him. He made sure that the front door of the hotel suite was locked, before heading into his own room.

As he laid there, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling that was barely visible in the dark room, his mind was racing. Was Claire really sleeping? How long would it take for Kate, Miles and the rest of them to get back to the states? How many more days would it take Richard to find a deserted island, and set it all up to look like him and Claire had been living there for three years?

Juliet crossed his mind too! Had he only been able to convince her that he had no feelings left for Kate, she'd still be alive right now. They wouldn't have helped Jack with his plan, and she would have never been pulled down there by them chains to die. The guilt of her dying, knowing he loved Kate, that's what was killing him inside. It was true, he couldn't deny it, but it shouldn't have been the last thing on Juliet's mind, before she died, knowing that she wasn't who he really wanted.

He jumped up in bed, when his door opened slowly, and Aaron came in.

"Hey, I said stay in bed."

"I want my mommy, but her door don't open."

"What? You tried to go in her room?" The kid nodded his head in response.

"Look, I told you your mom's not feeling good, so we have to leave her alone. Now go back to bed. And stay in your room."

"I'm scared."

"Scared of what?"

"Of monsters."

"Well, ain't we all?" He climbed out of bed, and picked Aaron up, looking around his room. He sighed, then said, "You wanna sleep in here?"

The kid nodded his head, hugging James' neck. "Yeah, I want to" came out way to cheery for someone supposed to be scared.

They both got comfortable in James' bed. When he turned the lamp on the nightstand off, he turned to Aaron and said, "Don't pee the bed."

"Okay." Aaron said, yawning with this mouth wide open, while closing his eyes.

"Okay." James closed his eyes, and thought to himself that it was probably saver to have him here anyways. God knows what would happen if he accidentally had climbed up in Claire's bed instead.

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Three weeks later in L.A.

"We're not talking to the press." James looked up at the lady standing in front of him. He just wanted to get on with it, no press, no pictures. Just bring me to L.A., give me my money and let me go. He was also worried about Aaron saying something he shouldn't, like living in a hotel suite and such.

"And that's perfectly fine, that's completely your call, Mr. Ford." She looked at him, and Claire who was holding Aaron in her arms. He'd fallen asleep a while ago.

"Mrs. Littleton, some family members are waiting for you and your son Charlie already." The lady said with a smile on her face.

Claire just smiled up at her, while rubbing her hand over Aarons back in a soothing motion.

James just stared blankly out of the airplane window to his left. He knew there were no family members awaiting him. His parents dead, his uncle died from cancer, Cassidy sure wasn't going to show up with Clementine. There's nobody left for him here that would care that he survived a plane crash, two actually if you count the water landing with the Ajira plane. But that's alright, wouldn't be the first time that I'm on my own again. Some of us are just meant to be alone.

They landed in L.A., and Claire picked up Aaron, she couldn't wait to get off that little private jet, provided by Oceanic to bring them home. He followed right behind her, smiling when he saw Aaron's eyes pop open, when the L.A. sun hit his face. I'm gonna miss that kid, he thought, watching Claire walking right in front of him, with Aarons head resting on her shoulder looking up at him and smiling.

They were being brought into a private room in the airport. When the door opened in front of Claire, she saw her mom and her aunt standing there, crying for joy, pulling her in and hugging her, and Aaron of course too.

He walked right past the happy crowd, lost in his thoughts again, when he heard her voice.

"Hi" she said, looking at him from the other side of the room.

He was so happy to see her, but you wouldn't been able to tell from the look on his face. He still looked sad. He stared at her, didn't understand what she was doing here. This was not part of the plan.

But none the less, he waved his hand, almost shy, "Hi yourself".

She started walking towards him and said, "I'm Kate. I also survived that same flight. Oceanic 815."

He didn't say anything, just looked at her as she came towards him.

She continued, "When I got off that plane that brought me home, there was nobody there to greet me. So … (she paused for a moment, putting a stray curl behind her ear, looking to her feet, then up at him again) so I convinced them to let me in here, just to welcome other survivors home. So welcome home, James Ford."

She stood right in front of him now, looked up at him. So close, but still not close enough. Now he smiled, he simply couldn't help himself.

"Thank you, Kate! Do I get a hug too?" He asked.

"Sure" she said. And they hugged, maybe a little too long for someone that just met a few moments ago.

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End Notes:

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