Liam stood in line at the ice cream parlor with his family. His business in London would only last one more day, and he wanted to take the last day to relax. Megan was holding his index finger to balance herself as she twirled around on the floor.
Liam chuckled to himself as a big group walked in; a brunette who was walking next to a man with long hair, a couple with an extremely curly brown haired son, and a blonde women with a son as well. The little boys were struggling against their mothers' hands trying to be first in line.
Liam looked away and back to big menu hanging on the wall behind the counter. While he was trying to choose between rocky road or triple fudge, he caught the blonde woman staring curiously at him; just for a second. Liam glanced down and saw she was holding her son's hand tightly while he squirmed.
"Be patient," the blonde women whispered, she sounded Australian. Megan stopped dancing and looked at the group curiously. They got in line behind Liam just as the line moved forward. The two men got in line on either side of the women, in protective stances. They stared around the room, and they seemed nervous about something.
Liam wondered what kind of trouble they were in; they were too jumpy to be up to anything good. While they were looking away, Liam looked over at them again. That's when he noticed it; Kate Austin, one of the survivors of Oceanic 815 was standing in line behind Liam. She was wearing sunglasses and a large hat, but he was sure that it was her. He looked around, no one else had noticed her, and she was glancing nervously behind her back. It didn't make sense for her to be here, she had been sentenced to stay in California for 10 years- Liam was sure of it, he had followed the story closely from home. According to the rest of the survivors, she had tried to save Charlie's life when he drowned.
The line moved forward again. Liam had to be dragged along by Megan before he came out of his shock. Liam shook the thought from his mind; it couldn't have been her. He was next, so he paid for three cones and walked over to Karen, who had been holding a table. She smiled warmly as he handed her a vanilla cone. He sat Megan down and then slid into the booth after her. He watched the strangers intensely out of the corner of his eye.
"Momma, can I get a big scoop? And a really big cone?" The blonde boy asked of his mother. Oddly enough, Liam noted, he had no accent. She pushed her equally blonde hair behind her ears, smiled at him and then replied.
"You can have a small scoop, in a cup," she said gently, laughing slightly, "I don't want you dribbling ice cream down the front of your shirt." She poked his belly playfully. She then ordered, paid and looked for a place to sit down. She finally found a large booth big enough for her group across from Liam's table. She sat with her son on her lap and waved to her friends to let them know that she had found somewhere for them. The taller man with long, light brown hair waved back sarcastically and smirked. He moved forward in line, side by side with Austin.
"You wanna just share one, Freckles?" he asked in a sarcastic southern voice, "I'm short on cash". Austin smiled at the southern man, rolled her eyes, and then paid for two separate scoops with her own money. The two sat down with the Australian woman. Finally, it was the last members, Liam decided that they were a family; they seemed that way.
"And what would you like to eat, Charlie?" the blonde woman asked her son. Liam's heart gave a jolt at the name; this all couldn't be coincidence. Maybe it was a sign of some sort.
"Liam, are you all right?" Karen asked in worried tone. Liam could see the back of the Australian's head snap of for a moment. The southern caught Liam staring and mumbled something into Austin's ear. Her eyes widened and she glanced at Liam. Her expression softened and she whispered something back; they both looked away.
"Yeah, 'm fine." Liam replied shakily not taking his eyes off of them. Karen grabbed his hand.
"Liam, look at me." she pleaded. Liam looked her in the eyes and smiled.
"It's nothing," he said dismissively. His focus went back to his family. For a while, the room was filled with cheerful chatter and Liam busied himself with recounting an office story to Karen halfheartedly. Every chance he got, he snuck a glance at the group.
The final family moved to sit down when their son slipped on the ground.
"Charlie!" the blonde woman exclaimed with an accent similar to Liam's; maybe from farther north.
The boy landed on his arm and started to cry. People started to move away uncomfortably. The blonde picked him up and soothed him, patting his back and rocking him back and forth. Austin leapt up to help, and the Australian woman followed with her own son. The dark haired man took his son from his wife and carried him over to the booth. Austin and the two blondes followed.
As they were walking back, a glint caught Liam's eye. The Australian woman stood outside the booth while the others got situated. Austin was inspecting the crying boy's arm. Liam glanced over again, looking for what had caused the flash of light. Finally, he noticed it; hanging around the woman's neck was Charlie's ring.
"Take it. Mum would have wanted it this way. Pass it on to your little one someday," Liam remembered saying to Charlie.
Liam jumped up slightly and nearly knocked over his drink. He stood up shakily, balancing himself against the back of the booth with his hand. Liam's heart was pounding. He looked closely at the blonde boy who was holding his mother's hand and telling his friend that it was okay. His eyes searched the boy's face; his eyes, nose, mouth, hair, looking for some similarities, any, to his brother. Karen was yanking on his arm. He looked at her for a split second; her mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. All he could hear was his brother's voice in his head talking, singing, laughing, yelling at him for causing him to turn to drugs.
Liam yanked his hand from Karen's grip and walked across the parlor purposefully. He pushed past people and moved them aside, out of his way. He finally reached the group across from his table. They looked up at him, some curiously, others threateningly. He walked right up the the Australian, glanced at her son; possibly his own nephew, and asked in the steadiest voice he could manage,
"Where did you get that ring?"