A/N:

Dear readers: Thank you so much for your fantastic reviews, favorites and follows, they're the best Christmas gift XO

Every so often, I send a personal thank you note, so if you have reviewed this story at one time or another you have most likely received one. If for some reason you didn't get a note or if you're a guest reviewer, just know that I treasure each one of your reviews.

Cleo: Glad to hear from you. Your question from a while back about Aaron possibly being a preemie will be answered soon, I did not forget :)

And for those of you who requested Liv/Karen moments, hope you enjoy!

REFERENCE GUIDE: (Island characters)

In this fic, I've introduced a host of characters. In case you've forgotten who is who, I will briefly describe the most important ones.

Sawyer: Southern hunk, likes to say 'ain't' a lot

Sayid: Iraqi. Also known as the Middle Eastern man. Huck's counterpart.

Locke: early sixties, hunted for wild boars.

Charlie: Australian, first person to make contact with Eli at the Looking Glass Station prior to rescue.

Hugo: overweight fellow, nice guy.

Sun: Korean, about Olivia's age. Husband: Jin

Kate: Well, we all remember her, don't we?

Chapter 31

One week later...

"I'm supposed to keep stress to a minimum. But I can't just stop living, can I? Olivia asked in a rhetorical manner.

Sun nodded in understanding. "You're baby is going to be okay... I'm so happy for you, Olivia."

"And I'm happy for you too, I really am," Olivia reached out for her friend's hand cross the table. She had just learned that Sun was pregnant after so many years of battling infertility. Sun reciprocated the gesture by catching her hands effusively. She had always found a kindred spirit in Sun, as they always communicated well in spite of the language barrier. Moreover, now that they were both pregnant, they now shared so much more. Now there was this sense of camaraderie between them having conceived on the island.

"It's a miracle, " Sun's eyes sparkled with excitement. "In all, something good came out of all this," she continued with barely a trace of an accent, "Who would have thought that being stranded on a deserted island would come with its own blessings."

Olivia agreed wholeheartedly. She thought of Fitz, Aaron and her unborn baby.

The two women took a long sip of their coffee in unison as they sat outdoors at a bistro table at Starbucks.

Yes, life was good.

Olivia's wandering gaze noted that others around them were going about their business, living their own lives taking for granted everything around them...never thinking that one day it could happen to them, that one day they might find themselves on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere.

Peering at Sun over the rim of her cup, she marveled at how well her friend expressed herself. She had to admit that it felt a bit strange having a real conversation with her for the first time, having spent most of their time on the island communicating with the aid of hand gestures and well timed smiles.

As it turned out, Sun was quite fluent in English. At first, like the rest of the survivors, Olivia had been shocked and annoyed but in time she came to understand why the Korean woman had kept her bilingual status a secret. It had all been part of an elaborate plan to disappear without a trace and take on a new identity. By putting two and two together, bits and pieces here and there and Olivia concluded that Sun had changed her mind at the last minute and boarded flight 815 with her unsuspecting husband who needed to be kept in the dark of her former plans at all costs. And so, until the day they fled the island and sun let the cat out of the bag so to speak, he'd had no idea that back in Korea his loving wife had been faithfully taking lessons from a private English tutor five days a week on the dot for the better part of two years.

"Sorry I'm late," Kate sank in one of the bistro chairs. "Have you seen this?" her gaze shifted between Olivia and Sun, as she pulled out a copy of the New York Times down with the headlines facing up and slammed it on the tiny bistro table.

The headline read: TWENTY FIVE MISSING FROM ILL FATED FLIGHT 815. The subtitle read: Freighter carrying passengers lost at sea, seven days of search and rescue yields no results.

Olivia and Sun both gasped and exchanged looks of shock.

"Your father...what does he have to say about this?" Kate questioned, giving Olivia a pointed look. "I thought we were ALL supposed to be there tomorrow for the press conference..."

"Aw..." Olivia murmured something intelligible. She had no idea what was going on. She had just assumed the group of survivors from the freighter would soon join their own little group-the last group of eight that had made it off the island on the chopper, that is.

"They didn't make it!" Kate's voice escalated to take on a blend of blame and sorrow. "Sawyer..." Kate murmured so softly that made both Olivia and Sun instinctively lean in closer, thinking she was about to make an emotional revelation. "He's gone...and I never even got to say good-bye," her eyes filled with unshed tears.

Olivia and Sun exchanged a knowing look. Back on the island, word got around that Kate and Sawyer had had a fling- two emotionally immature people engaging in hot kinky sex.

"Look...I don't know what happened," Olivia began, addressing both Sun and Kate. "But...they will be found. We cannot lose hope," she concluded with a lump in her throat. She couldn't bear to think what could have happened to the rest of the survivors. Oh, God what if...what if they were dead?

Survivor's guilt reared its ugly head, threatening to destroy any sense of happiness. Here she was enjoying a cup of cappuccino in sunny California while others she had personally known have been far less fortunate.

Olivia, reached to her right and clutched her Prada purse as if her life depended on it. She couldn't help but feel a bitter knot in her stomach. Having spent the better part of the morning shopping for a new wardrobe at Chanel and most of the week at home tending to the children and relaxing whenever she got a chance.

Only eight made it back safely. Eight! Only eight!

Twenty five still missing.

Later that day, after she got home, Fitz helped her put her thoughts in perspective. This past week, they had both been under undue stress, dealing with various issues all at once. Plus, seriously, there was no use fretting over what they had no control over. There was nothing they could do except wait and see...and hope for the best.

She lay in bed with her hair tied back in a bun while Fitz gave her a back rub.

"All this stress can't be good for you or the baby," Fitz said, kissing the nape of her neck, which sent delicious shivers down her spine. He had insisted she rest for a little while. While Olivia was out, and he had spent most of the time playing board games with Karen. "Did I yet mention yet how grateful I am for all you've done for Karen?"

Olivia let out a contented sigh, her head turned sideways against the pillows, as his fingers magically released knots of tension from her body. As it turned out, Fitz had wound up signing the marital settlement agreement which gave him full custody of Karen per Olivia's advice. "Once there is an agreement signed by both parties, it is almost impossible to reverse it later on in a custody battle," she'd told him. Indeed, in her experience, only in rare cases would a judge change any part of a well established custody and visitation schedule especially if there had been an agreement. In other words, only extraordinary circumstances would warrant a change of custody. The petitioner had the burden of proof and the respondent, a clear advantage.

In the early evening, Karen assisted Olivia in giving Aaron a bath and getting him ready for bed.

As it turned out, Fitz had signed the marital settlement agreement per Olivia's advice, giving him full custody of Karen. "Once there is an agreement signed by both parties, it is almost impossible to reverse it later on," Olivia had said. A judge is unlikely to change the agreement and disturb a child's well established daily routine/lifestyle unless there are extenuating circumstances. Furthermore, the burden of proof rests on the party bringing on a custody suit.

Ever since she came home from the hospital, Olivia and Fitz had taken turns in the children's bedtime routine. They both found it worked well for it allowed one on one parent/child time. It consisted in Karen assisting with Aaron followed by uninterrupted, undivided reading time with either Fitz or Olivia. Even though she was in third grade and an independent reader, she enjoyed special one on one reading time immensely. In fact, Fitz and Olivia soon discovered that this one ritual alone helped tremendously in easing the young girl's anxieties sparked by her mother's absence.

Both Olivia and Fitz had been pleased to discover that Karen had quickly warmed up to Olivia's presence in her life. All thanks to Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew (a junior version of the Nancy Drew series) that Olivia had had picked up at the hospital gift shop. It definitely helped that Karen was an avid reader, for now they had something in common.

After reading time, came discussion time, with Karen snugly resting under the covers which Olivia found herself enjoying for it was usually at this time when Karen opened up and shared her deepest concerns.

"I don't really wanna go back to school."

Olivia cocked her head, raised an eyebrow. "I thought you loved school." It was two weeks before school started and they had just discussed shopping for backpacks and school supplies. She cringed a little as an afterthought as she was sure her statement sounded exactly like what every other parent in America said upon hearing the dreaded words: 'Don't wanna go to school', or any variation thereof. She wanted Karen to see her as a parental figure. By the same token, she knew she could never fully replace her mother and also hoping that she would eventually see her as a friend/confidant. Yet at this point, she hoped that both roles were not mutually exclusive by nature.

"Yes, I do...but I will miss..." Karen looked away, a wistful look on her face. "I will miss this."

There was no need to say more, Olivia understood quite well what she meant. Karen had adapted remarkably well to her new life, including being uprooted from her home in Santa Monica, and to having two new people in her life, namely her and Aaron. And now, once school started she would be gone five days a week only to be home for the weekends.

"I wish I was in a regular school like Janey," Karen continued, referring to the girl next door who she had become friends with. "If I did... Janey and I could play everyday after school..." she broke off with another wistful look. The unspoken words filled the air. She wanted to come home every day.

"Maybe...that could be an option," Olivia cautiously replied, thinking that even though she herself had loved school and her friends back when she was young, she would much rather been home with her family after school like your average American kid. "I will talk to your dad about it."

Karen's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really?"

Olivia nodded, smiling, "I promise we'll consider it...we'll start looking at schools nearby, how's that?"

"Cool beans!" Karen grinned, relaxing back into her pillow and hugging her favorite stuffed animal.

Olivia smiled at the slang term which she herself had started using around Karen. If she were in Karen's shoes, she reflected as she reached over to turn off the lights, she would feel insecure with her daddy having a new girlfriend and a new baby in the house. Speaking of babies, they had yet to tell Karen about the pregnancy thinking that they needed to give her more time to adjust all the changes in her life.

Having settled the kids down for the night, she went into the kitchen to get herself a snack and then meet Fitz back in their bedroom. She had found that the best way to keep morning sickness at bay was to keep eating frequent small meals.

She was in the middle of enjoying a bowl of fresh fruit when her Blackberry started singing her favorite tune.

She didn't have to look at the caller ID to know who was calling.

He lied...

There are lies of omission...

And lies of commission

"Dad?" Olivia answered the phone on the second ring. All day long, she had waited for her father to return her calls. And now that he finally did, she took a deep breath, not sure exactly what she was up against, mulling over the question she had trouble forming, "The freighter...What happened...what's going on?"