Outside The Staff Station
"We should have made Richard come with us," Kate said, walking circles in front of the Staff with the rifle on her shoulder pointed at the ground.
They'd arrived to find Elian lying in the infirmary, recovering, and Annie in surgery taking the bullet out of Sawyers back. She had Max and Ben and Doctor Scharff helping her out and so they'd walked back upstairs to wait for word.
"Richard will be fine," Hurley was leaning against the hatch, content to watch her pace and to listen to the crickets for a while. "The blast may have done a number on his hearing, but I'm guessing it'll be better by tomorrow or we'll get him out here. Annie's going to have to sleep after she gets through this surgery, they've been up and mega-stressed for what? Like, fifty hours?"
"Tomorrow," Kate said it in a way that suggested both how lucky they were to have one and how much there would be to do then. "That's also when we need to decide for Claire."
"I know what you want to happen there," Hurley said and she saw a small smile, a look that was almost challenging her, suggesting he wasn't convinced yet.
"She needs them, Hurley," Kate stopped pacing. "She'll be fine if she has them, but she'll never be fine again if she doesn't. And we can make it happen."
Hurley didn't say anything for so long that she thought he wasn't going to.
"We'll put it to a full vote- every one of us," he finally said. "If it's unanimous, then that's what we'll do. Work for you?"
"Yeah," she smiled, "that works for me."
They both heard someone headed their way on the path from the beach. Kate started to pull the rifle off her shoulder, stopped when they saw Miles appear with several of the recruits, boxes of food and supplies in their hands. Miles stopped a few feet from Hurley.
"We brought food," he motioned to where the rest were taking the boxes inside. "Figured a few people might need to stay here with the wounded a while."
"Dude, thank you for thinking of that," Hurley said. "And for coming to tell me it's over. That is why you're here, right?"
"It's done," Miles said. "They're gone. Some to Guam… some not. Want details?"
"No," Hurley said, "I don't. Later, but for now—just, thank you," he saw Kate looking straight up at the sky in relief and a deep feeling of calm washed over him as he shook Miles' hand.
"What are we celebrating?"
They heard an unfamiliar voice behind them, turned to see a happy but exhausted Max standing on the top step.
"Max, I'm so sorry I haven't had a chance to talk with you," Hurley walked over, shook his hand, led him to Miles and Kate. "Max Tegmark, meet my friend Kate Austen, and my head of security, Miles Straume. Max is our new cosmologist. He helped build the Weather Vane.
Hurley saw Miles freeze as Max was shaking hands with Kate.
"Um, Hurley, your head of what?" Miles said, "I just came to help you…"
"Yeah," Hurley said, "Seriously, what are you going to do now? Go back to L.A. and chase cheating spouses and lying business partners around with an iPhone for a few bucks a pop?"
There was a pause and Miles reached his hand out to Max.
"Hi, Mr. Tegmark. I'm Miles Straume. I'm Hurley's new head of security."
"Congratulations," Max said, "I'm sure you'll take very good care of us. Maybe you could ask one of your people to help walk Doctor Scharff and me back to the camp? If I don't crash on purpose soon, I will by accident…"
"Of course," Miles rounded up a recruit with a torch and got their newest team members to the beach just as they heard more feet coming up the stairs of the Staff, saw Annie leaning against the doorway.
She had discarded her surgical garb and gloves and was standing there in the same jeans and shirt she'd woken up in on the Valenzetti a couple of days ago, but somehow she was still lit up from within a little.
"I can't wait," she said "to study this island when I'm not three quarters dead. I seriously cannot freaking wait."
"They're okay, then?" Hurley asked.
"They're fine. They'll both be fine. They should need transfusions and pressure bandages and blood pressure meds and ten other things I don't have…. but they don't need them. It's like every few minutes they get measurably better than they were before. It's just… stunning."
"What can we do for you?" Kate asked.
"Honestly," Annie was snapped out of her reverie on the miracles of the island by the question. "I could really, really use a hot shower. And new clothes."
"There's one here!" Kate led her downstairs. "I'll show you. Clothes… I think there are robes and pajama sets in the storage room, I'll dig them out. We can bring you new things in the morning."
Hurley followed them into the hatch, looking for Ben. He found him washing down the surgical room with a precision only he could bring to the job, gloves up to his elbows, wielding a bottle of anti-bacterial cleaner like a rifle.
"You talk with Annie yet?" Hurley got right to the point.
"No," Ben said, "She's exhausted. We all are. And this is not a night to talk about the future, it's one to simply get through."
"And we did," Hurley said, let the thought sink in a second. He saw Ben stop, kicking himself mentally, stripping off the gloves to walk over and shake his hand.
"Congratulations, Hurley. I had no doubt we'd win. I'm just glad we're all here to celebrate."
Hurley ignored his hand, enfolded him in a bear hug and got an embarrassed, deep, chortling laugh out of Ben.
"We'll pop the champagne tomorrow," Hurley said, starting back toward the hatch to wait for Kate and head home. "My dad said when this was done he was going to host the barbeque – like, a three day food festival."
"Sounds great."
"Ben," Hurley stopped, "Promise me one thing, okay – no pushing her away to beat up on yourself. No more of that."
Ben gave him half of a silent bow, put the gloves back on and went back to work.
"I promise, Hurley. I have a plan, actually. It's a risky one…. but I'm going with it."
"I'd expect nothing less," Hurley said, turning for the stairs.
The Staff was silent when Ben got done cleaning up. He walked out to the infirmary to see Sawyer and Elian in their well-medicated slumbers, Annie twice as out as they were on a cot across the room.
Then he walked to the Staff shower, digging pajamas of his own from the supply room on the way. A few minutes later he pulled a cot next to hers, tucking his backpack underneath, sliding a tiny item he'd pulled out of it underneath his pillow.
Five hours later Annie woke up to see Ben sleeping, went to check Elian and Sawyer. She stumbled back to the cot and was out again in seconds.
Eight hours after that Ben's eyes snapped open to see Annie curled up to his right, watching him, straight-faced. She smiled, then, and it hit him that every time she smiled he would get a little better, a little surer that everything could only be good now. It was something he hadn't even thought to look forward to.
"Good morning," he said.
"'Good afternoon," she corrected him. "Ben, there's something I need to say…"
"Did you sleep well?" Ben ran right over her words and she leaned up a little, looking confused.
"Yeah, great, but listen, I…"
"These cots are horrible we should order new ones."
Annie was staring at him as if she was wondering what the hell he was going on about.
"Why aren't you letting me get a word…"
"And these pillows," he said it disdainfully, like he couldn't believe how shabby the accommodations were. "They're like bags of rocks."
He half sat up, flipped his pillow around and when he did a little black box skittered out and landed on the seam the edges of their two cots made.
"Well that couldn't have helped," Ben said it disingenuously, fighting to hold on to the look of confusion on his face as he picked it up and put it in her hand.
"This must be yours."
"It's not mine," She said, "I've never seen it before."
"It's yours if you'll accept it," he said. Annie pulled the top off of the box and dropped back down with a grin on her face, one hand on her forehead.
"No way," she said, "No way."
"Annie DeGroot," Ben said, "Will you marry me?"
Annie dropped the ring in shock, letting go not only of it but also of stressful days and weeks she thought she'd have to spend convincing him they were supposed to be together.
Ben caught it, staying calm for her, set it at the top of her ring finger.
"Can I put it on, then?"
"Yes," she said, "It's never coming off. It's so beautiful."
"It was my mother's," Ben said, "My father was a miserable bastard but to his credit he loved her beyond words. And he brought me here, where I met you. Those are the things I'll think of when I see it now."
She started to reach over to kiss him and was interrupted by a long, low, rumbling snort of derision that turned into a slurred string of cuss words from the other side of the room.
"Will you two please," Sawyer said, "get a room that isn't this one? And will someone tell me why I'm handcuffed to a bed if I'm not also naked?"
"Good morning, Sawyer," Ben got up and started collecting his things. "I'll go get Hurley and you can ask him anything you want. He's about the only one here talking to you today I'm pretty sure. And probably her," he waved to Annie, "because she's an angel."
"Stop," Sawyer mock-shouted, "Seriously, these pain meds have me queasy, I don't need you giving them any more help. Why do you have me so drugged up?"
Annie walked to stand next to him as Ben went back to the shower to change.
"Partly pain relief. Partly so you won't run," she said.
"I've got no running in me," Sawyer stared up at her, not angry just flat. "You should have let me go down with that boat."
"Screw that," Annie said. "They're mad at you, Sawyer, they're furious, but no one's giving up on you. And they won't let you give up on yourself so forget it."
"Gee, thanks, Pollyanna," she didn't respond to the gibe and he pointed with his chin toward Elian. "She okay?"
"She will be, yes."
"Penny and Desmond and their kid?"
"They're good, they're at the camp. Charlie was shook up, but he's young, hopefully he'll forget all this. Mathias from their crew died."
"Any other updates?" he asked.
"No, except I'm pretty sure Ben wouldn't have stayed here if it weren't over, so… I'm thinking it's done. We're safe."
"Great. Now would you mind leaving me the hell alone for awhile?"
"Sure," Annie started toward the little kitchen, was halfway out of the recovery room when she heard him.
"Annie?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. I'll go get you some breakfast. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
Island iteration one of five
Via the Weather Vane
29 hours later
Richard opened his eyes, found himself under water, pushed and kicked a touch until he was bobbing, treading water on the wavy, grey surface. He was relieved to see Claire already up there, floating calmly on her back as instructed, her arms making small circles, her blue eyes huge staring at the sky.
"Look… " Claire said. "Look at the clouds. They're soooo beautiful."
Richard smiled. His hearing was only half back and he couldn't make out her every word, but he could hear her cooing at the clouds, see her reaching up to try to grab them, and he was glad they had Bernard administer a touch of laughing gas before the trip. It would help make a girl who never had been half-drowning at all appear at least a quarter so.
He set one hand under her back, helping support her as Walt popped to the surface, swimming over to help.
"Where's Desmond?" Walt asked, pointing to the shore for emphasis.
"It'll take a minute," Richard said, "They were at least a tenth of a mile inland. He's coming."
It was Walt who almost nixed the whole thing. They'd all taken a break from the celebrations the day after the war to discuss it. Everyone who got a vote was in the room: Bernard, Rose, Ben, Richard, Kate, Penny and Desmond, Miles and of course, Hurley. Walt was the one holdout.
"If that island's Claire drowned, we should save her," he insisted, and no amount of explaining that she'd been pulled out too far, too fast would change his mind. "We could go back to before she even got pulled out to sea."
"I know, but there are unintended consequences, as Kate found out," Richard explained, once someone wrote out Walt's objection for him to read. "We could save her that day, and she could drown the next and two other people could die trying to save her."
"Walt," Kate had said, "I did what I did because my heart was broken and I felt like I didn't have a choice. And I don't even know yet if it worked, I might not have helped them at all. Richard is right."
"And they'll be okay?" Walt asked, and Kate felt her heart soar. They almost had him convinced.
"Yes," Kate reached to hand him the report Richard had worked up based on the work they'd done checking out the other islands. "You were there, remember? On this island they are here longer, over three years – but then more of them made it home. Charlie even moved to Australia to be near his brother and near Aaron, too. This way… they all go home together."
And so Walt had changed his vote and the decision was made: Claire would get the life she needed to be whole again. It just wouldn't be with them.
"We're here, Claire," Richard said near her ear, making sure she heard. "Remember, when we let go of you… it'll be Desmond who's coming to pull you in. Don't fight him, okay?"
"They'll be there?" Claire asked, her arms and legs flipping around a little disconcertedly, getting anxious. "Charlie and Aaron?"
"Yes," Walt said, "We promise – they'll be there. You just have to remember, like we talked about: They won't know what you've been through. You just have to let it all go, okay?"
"Yes," Claire said, tracing the edges of the clouds with one finger, then bringing her hand back down to Richard's arm. "I promise. I don't care…. as long as I have them."
"Here he comes," Richard said as he caught sight of Desmond in the distance, swimming their way, cutting broad, deep strokes in the water in a straight line to Claire. "It's all going to be fine now, Claire, I promise."
Richard and Walt dropped underwater, still supporting Claire and waited, timed it, until Richard nodded to Walt a few seconds later and the two of them disappeared. Claire sank for a second, two seconds, three, swallowed some water and nearly went under before Desmond grabbed her waist, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, started pulling her home.
"Hold on Claire," she heard his voice, just as Richard promised. "Just hold on to me, okay?"
Walt had gone home as requested. Richard threw himself hundreds of yards away to a spot behind the beach where he could watch the rescue and make sure all went well. He was leaning against tree when he jumped, startled to see Kate to his left, leaning against the next tree, watching too.
"Kate," He caught his breath, shook his head at her. "Hurley told you to stay home and wait for word from us. Damn, you are stubborn."
Kate nodded, shrugging, got near his ear.
"I know, but look, Richard," they both watched as Desmond hit the beach and Charlie was there in a flash to meet them. A second later they heard Claire calling for Aaron and someone was handing him to her, the three of them were in their own little puddle of relief and tears and laughter, sitting in a circle barely out of the reach of the waves.
"How could I not be here to see that?"
They watched in silence for a while as the group at the shoreline got up, half carrying Claire back to the camp. Claire had Aaron over her shoulder, an arm over his little back like she was never going to put him down again. Then she stopped, looked up at Charlie. They were too far away to hear voices, but it wasn't hard to read her lips.
"I thought I was never going to see you again…." She told him, broke out crying, and Charlie folded them both in his arms, rocking her side to side.
Richard looked back at Kate, caught her wiping her eyes, turning away.
"Good?" he asked?
She nodded.
"Let's go home, then."