Outside the Weather Vane

Saturday morning

Five days after the war

"This was a mistake," Annie let her head drop, her forehead resting on Ben's arms which were looped around her shoulders. He felt her tears on his sleeve.

They were standing in the trees a couple of dozen yards from the Weather Vane watching as Hurley and Max and a few of the recruits approached with Sawyer. Then they went down the steps of the hatch, and the steel door shut with a snap.

"I thought it'd be harder if he were just suddenly gone," Annie said. "But this didn't help. I'm amazed Hurley can deal with doing this."

"Your heart," Ben said, "is too soft. And mine is still hard. If it were me he'd be going to that empty island for a lot longer than a month."

"It'll probably feel a lot longer to him," Annie said, looking at the hatch once more and then starting back toward the camp, keeping hold of Ben's hand. "I'm so glad he picked it, that this was his choice," she said. "I really thought he'd go look for her, not stay and fix things here."

"He chose the place where he already knows half a dozen people who seem able to forgive him anything," Ben said. "And, by the way, a mentally weaker man might be a little jealous at his fiancée weeping over Sawyer."

"Please" Annie was still wiping her eyes but he got half of a laugh out of her. "I guess I have a weak spot for people who need serious help."

"You've come to the right island," Ben said.

"Speaking of coming to the island," Annie said. "There's something I wanted to talk with you about. My mother….. "

"Oh, of course," Ben said, "I've been guessing you'll want to take a trip to the Lamp Post soon, take Joop back to her," he squeezed her hand. "I'm sure she's worried, not hearing from you for awhile."

"Actually," Annie said. "I was thinking not so much of bringing Joop home as bringing her here. How would you feel about that?"

"My mother-in-law," he said "on the island. I'm going to have a mother-in-law on the island. I did not see that coming."

"But you're okay with it? I'm sure you'll get along great…"

"Oh sure: The brilliant, exacting, sharp-tongued co-founder of the original Dharma Initiative and me, I'm sure we'll get along splendidly."

He exaggerated the end of the sentence to draw another laugh out of her and it worked, and he kept looking for new ways to make her laugh all the way home. He hoped when she remembered this walk someday, she'd barely remember the part when she'd been crying.

Rose and Bernard's Cabin

"Do you hear that?" Bernard asked. He and Rose were kicked back in lawn chairs along one side of their cabin. Walt and Joop and Vincent were running randomly nearby, playing some sort of game. Bernard had watched them for hours without quite understanding what the rules were, but it worked for them and kept them out of their hair so it was Rose and Bernard's favorite game.

"You mean the plane?" Rose said. "The hydroplane that landed in the water about a mile north of here? No, didn't hear it. Because if I heard it, I'd probably have to go help you greet them."

"Party pooper," Bernard said, getting up. "I think you're taking this vacation too seriously."

"Have fun," she said. "I'll be here with my books."

"Hey Walt," Bernard yelled over. "Want to come welcome Richard and Frank home?"

"Yeahhhhh!" Walt yelled and started running north toward the beach, his entourage abandoning the game to chase right behind him and they both laughed at the uproar it created as they ran through the grass to the tree line.

"You won't have to worry about finding Richard, he'll hear that," Rose said.

The Barracks

Annie and Ben were walking into the camp, watching the endless construction work going on when Annie dropped Ben's hand and started walking quickly toward the gazebo. He looked over to see what had drawn her away, and he saw Elian sitting on the one side of it that was still solid. She was staring straight ahead, her eyes scanning among the workers intently.

"Elian, you're up!" Annie peered at her closely, "you left the Staff…"

Annie noticed she seemed a little out of it, hazy, not at all the five-foot-one inch dervish who'd broken her out of her room on the ship and gotten them to the lifeboats. But, she thought, that probably had a lot to do with the stitches in the gash above her left eye and the bruised ribs and hip and concussion she'd suffered, not to mention the remains of the meds that had given her a few days of very deep sleep.

"I'm looking for Miles," Elian said, smiling just slightly then looking back at the workers. "Someone told me there's a man named Miles here who knew my sister."

"I'll go find him," Ben motioned for Annie to stay.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Annie asked and Elian nodded.

"Whatever happened to her, it can't be any worse than what I've been imagining in my head. And then I'll know, and I'll be free." She looked back at Annie, smiling again and her eyes were tearing up. "Hurley said I could stay. I came here to try to take all this away from him, and he said I can stay."

"That's great!" Annie shook her by the shoulders a bit, as if trying to jostle her out of her funk. "Of course you can, we wouldn't have made it without your help."

Elian started to say something, but stopped as they were both distracted by new arrivals. Hurley was back from the Weather Vane, surrounded by the crew he'd gone out with that morning and the crew he'd run into on the way home.

"The teenager is Walt," Annie said, starting the introductions for Elian. "And the man with the grey hair is Frank, I guess- I haven't met him, he's a pilot, he's been working for them off-island for a few weeks."

"Who's the man with the gorgeous eyes?"

"Elian!" Annie gave her a look.

"I'm doped up, but I'm not dead," Elian said. "He's lovely. Who is he?"

"That's Richard, he's Hurley's third in command. I don't know the woman he's talking with."

"Oh, I do," Elian sounded hugely impressed and maybe a little frightened. "Her picture is all over the research we did trying to get here. I heard my parents talking about her growing up, what a ferocious adversary she is. Be careful when you meet her," Elian said. "You really want to get off on the right foot. You want Eloise Hawking on your side."

Just then they heard Hurley whistling for the attention of the work crews, who stopped hammering and sawing.

"We've got family that just came home," Hurley said, "And visitors in town. Three days off everyone- time for another beach party."

"Didn't you all just have a two day barbeque to celebrate?" Elian asked over the cheers.

"Yeah," Annie nodded, smiling and shaking her head. "Hurley's had it with hard times. I think we're going to have a lot of festivities the next few months."

The Beach near the Barracks

Sunset on Saturday

"So if Eloise is here," Penny was holding a plate up for Charlie, letting him pick at bites of grilled chicken and veggies, "Who's running the Lamp Post?"

"That kid, Evan," Desmond said, "The trainee who was traveling with Sawyer and Annie stateside. They told Eloise it's a vacation, but I'm pretty sure Hurley has her here for a purpose."

Desmond nodded to where Kate was walking slowly around the circle of revelers.

Everyone was loosely grouped in the sand around a huge bonfire, and Penny watched Kate after Des pointed to her, noticed her walking one way and then another, sitting next to Bernard who was next to Walt, and then getting up and walking toward the food tables a few yards back.

"I forget," Penny said, "Why is there bad blood between them?"

"Something about Kate lying to her, to convince her to help them get home." Desmond said, "I think she told her that Daniel was still alive to get her to send help fast."

"No," Penny's hand instinctively went to Charlie's curls. "How horrible. The things we've had to do the last six months."

"Yeah. Hurley wants them on good terms. 'Cause if there's anyone who can best advise a single mother of an island baby who's considering playing with space and time again, it's probably Eloise."

Halfway around the circle, Hurley had Frank on one side of him, Richard on the other.

"So not that we're in any hurry to see you go," he told Frank, "But I'm guessing you're ready to get back to whatever normal is going to be for you now?"

"Love to," Frank shrugged. "But there's a problem. Richard didn't tell you?"

Hurley looked over at Richard.

"We took the temperature on Frank's name while we were traveling and visiting California. Apparently when you lose a jumbo jet full of people for a week and the people don't reappear, it doesn't get forgotten quickly," Richard said.

"Looks like you'll have another set of hands around to help," Frank said. "I'm not going anywhere for a few years."

"Great," Hurley said, "We can sure use you, we…." He stopped in mid-sentence to give off a huge yelp.

"Damn, Kate," he looked up to see her standing over him, her fingers digging sharply into his shoulder.

"Sorry, lost my balance a little," she stood, a hand on her back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Where are Annie and Ben?"

"They went back to the camp for a sec. Someone forgot to bring dessert. Why?"

"Nothing, It can wait until they're back," Kate waved an apology, started back around the circle again.

A few feet away Miles and Elian were sitting with Max and Eloise, who were having a polite disagreement about the Weather Vane.

"I'm sorry, Doctor Tegmark, you'll never convince me it shouldn't be shut down," Eloise said. "The temptation to abuse it is too strong."

"You could say that about this entire place," Max said. "And happily for the researcher in me, Hurley agrees."

"Touché," Eloise quit her argument gracefully… for the moment.

Sunset turned to full on night, and Annie and Ben were back when Hurley decided it was time for force Elian to mingle a little. He'd noticed her planted across from him on the other side of the fire, deep in conversation with Miles, and it hit him that she was obsessing on talking about Charlotte.

He went to detach her from Miles, and introduced her to Bernard, Desmond and Penny. She got a polite nod from Eloise, which was a relief, a nod from Max, and then they were back where Hurley had started.

"You know Ben and Annie," he said, leading her by the hand just past them, "But you haven't met Richard," he said, giving her a not so subtle push to sit. "Richard, this is Elian Staples. She's kick-ass."

"So I've heard," Richard shook her hand. "I hope you're feeling better. Thank you for helping our friends."

"You're welcome," Elian said and smiled for the second time all day as Annie shot Hurley a quick, amused look that went over everyone else's head.

"Now let me find Kate, you haven't met her," Hurley started walking the circle, stopped and walked back the other way. "That's weird. She was here…."

He stopped and looked back at Annie again and both of their smiles were gone.

"Have you seen her since you got back?"

"No," Ben said, we've been here a quarter of an hour. She hasn't been around at least that long. Why?"

"Oh hell," Hurley said.

"You don't think?" Annie didn't want to finish.

"That she's both running for the Weather Vane and starting to have the baby?" Hurley asked. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's happening."

"Dammit," Annie got up and bolted, calling for Walt to follow as she did.

"Want help?" Richard asked Hurley.

"Yeah, can you get a stretcher from the Staff and meet us? In case we get to her in time?"

Elian was up before Richard.

"I'll go too," she said. "I can help, even if I just carry one of the torches."

"Great," Hurley nodded back to Ben. "Take care of things here?"

"Absolutely," Ben said.

"It'd be nice if we could go twenty four hours between one crisis and the next," Hurley said.

"Maybe tomorrow," he heard Ben say.