A/N: I can't get House of the Dragon off my mind, so please enjoy the little nod.

Chapter 24

Lauren awoke to little drops of water misting her face. She instinctively recoiled as she opened her eyes and found herself in a communal shower area. There were lockers on one side and a row of showers on the other, with one of the showers already spraying tepid water onto the tile floor. Lauren felt dizzy, thirsty, and confused. She tried to remember how she got to wherever she was now. Aaron was gone… taken… they were looking for him… when they were taken. There was a dock… Lauren couldn't remember anything else, but she figured out the important thing, The Others had her.

Rousseau wasn't crazy. Lauren never thought she was entirely, but hearing voices in the jungle seemed a little insane. Now, Lauren caught herself in the gaze of one of them. The bearded man from the dock leaned against the wall near the exit. He stared at her expectantly.

"Where am I?" Lauren croaked.

"You're here for training," the man smiled.

"What?"

"Get up, shower, and then we're gonna have a little interview."

Lauren stared at the man for a few moments, "I'm not showering in front of you."

The bearded man chuckled and shook his head. "Believe me, Lauren, you're not my type."

He turned and left the room, leaving Lauren alone. She scrambled to her feet, feeling the blood rush from her head. She swayed for a second, caught herself, and tried to collect herself, before searching every locker in the room. All of them were empty, save one. As Lauren opened the last locker, the farthest one away from the shower, she saw a flight attendant uniform, clean and pressed, waiting for her.

****Flashback****

"I think you're going to be in very good hands with Ms. Hightower. I just need you to sign these consent to release forms and we will be all set." Lauren placed the forms in front of the couple in front of her. Despite her best efforts, tears were lining her eyes, threatening to fall any second. The mother and father that sat in front of her looked just as distraught. But they signed the forms, sighing as they put the pen down.

"What are we going to do without you?" The mother said, rising from her chair to hug Lauren. Lauren's battle with her tears ended, and she disguised a sob with a laugh as she returned the hug.

"Oh Emma, I'll still check in on you and Milly. Olivia Hightower is amazing, she's done this a lot longer than me. I promise you, it'll be like nothing changed."

They hugged a second longer before it was time for the hardest part of Lauren's job yet.

The couple led the way, holding hands, and Lauren walked closely behind. Through the well-lit corridors, they walked in silence, passing by rooms filled with beeping monitors, busy nurses, and sick children. When they arrived at Milly's room, Lauren faltered. For the last two years, Lauren had watched Milly grow in some ways and deteriorate in others. Lilly was so smart, constantly reading, but her physical growth was minimal, and she looked very similar to how she had two years ago when Lauren was first assigned her case. She was only 8 years old, but her cancer treatments had impacted her height and weight tremendously, but her tiny body fought the leukemia harder than Lauren thought possible. She had no siblings and her parents were not a match for her bone marrow, so she had no obvious donors.. With her specific antigens, finding a full match on the donor registry was impossible, but after a year and half of searching, they finally found someone. Milly was recovering from the transplant now, but her body was rejecting the donation.

Lauren collected herself and entered the room. Milly had her nose deep in a book, and as Lauren came closer, she realized it was The Wizard of Oz. The book was tattered and old, clearly well loved by the young girl in the hospital bed. Milly placed her bookmark into the book and set it aside, smiling at Lauren, who took a seat on the rolling stool next to the bed.

"How ya feelin, kiddo?"

"Alright, I look like a chipmunk, though," the girl stated.

"A very cute chipmunk. It's just the steroids, once you're done with them the swelling will go down. How's your book?"

"Good. I'm at the part where Dorothy meets the Cowardly Lion in the forest."

"When I am King of the Foreeeeeest," Lauren sang, making Milly giggle.

Lauren laughed with her, dreading how this conversation had to go.

"Milly… I have to tell you something kind of sad," Lauren began.

"What is it?" Milly scootched herself upright. "Are you alright?"

Lauren's eyes burned as the tears gathered behind them. This sweet innocent girl, in the middle of cancer treatments and graft versus host disease, was worried about Lauren.

"I'm okay, I actually got a new job," Lauren tried to make it sound better than it was. The job change wasn't some great new opportunity, it was Lauren's chance to save her mental health.

Milly nodded, understanding the meaning, but her little chin started to quiver. Lauren took her hand reassuringly.

"I'm still going to come see you and call all the time. And you know Ms. Hightower? She's going to take over for me."

Milly's nose wrinkled, "She smells like eggs."

Lauren stifled a laugh, "No, she doesn't. She's super nice and she loves reading too!"

"Yeah, those icky romance novels."

Lauren smiled at the young girl. Milly was Lauren's favorite patient, though she would never admit it to anyone. All her kids were special, but Milly was her longest patient. Lauren was the one who had to tell her her parents weren't matches. She had to tell her there was no one on the registry. She had to tell her parents when the insurance didn't want to pay out. But she was also the one who got to tell her that they found a match and she was there to usher her into the transfusion. But then, she had to tell her about the graft versus host disease. Lauren felt the weight of all of these milestones, not just Milly's but her other patients as well. She felt overwhelmed and weak for quitting, but she saw no other choice.

"What's your new job?" Milly asked after a few quiet moments.

"I'm going to be a flight attendant," Lauren was mildly ashamed of her new job. She had worked so hard on her degree, only to not use it.

"Cool! Do you think you'll go to England?"

"Probably. I don't get to choose where I go, but I bet I get to go to England at some point."

"I want to go to Oxford when I'm older."

Lauren squeezed the girl's hand, "They'd be lucky to have you."

****Flashback Ends****

When Lauren finished showering, she wrapped the towel around her and contemplated her choices. She was finally clean, after a week of filth. The clothes she had been wearing were utterly soiled, covered in dirt, mud, sweat and blood. But the flight attendant uniform was both impractical and absurd. They want me to wear the uniform, which means if I walk out in my old clothes they might get upset… Lauren wasn't going to lie to herself, she was scared. So, in the end, she dutifully put on the uniform. As she pulled the hanger out of the locker, realization hit Lauren like a truck. This wasn't just a costume or a mix-matched outfit meant to look like a uniform, this was Oceanic. The tags said so. The shirt, the jacket, the pencil skirt, were all distributed by Oceanic. How did they get this? Lauren's mind raced with a thousand thoughts. Did they get this brand new? Did they take it from another flight attendant on the island? Lauren scanned it thoroughly, trying to find a clue. It was pristine, inside and out. Part of Lauren was relieved, and part of her was alarmed, but she felt the clock ticking and if she didn't hurry she knew they would come in and find her naked. Everything was on one hanger, aside from the underwear that had been on the shelf in the locker. Lauren took the jacket off the hanger, then the shirt, trying to get to the skirt. With all the other clothes finally off the hanger, Lauren reached to grab the skirt only to find a pair of panty hose on top of the skirt. You're shitting me? Lauren groaned internally, but jumped at the sound of a knock on the door.

"Just a minute!" Lauren yelled. She pulled the panty hose on in disgust, and put on the rest of the uniform. As she buttoned the last button, the bearded man returned.

"I could've still been changing, asshole."

"You had enough time. Get your jacket on, it's time."

Lauren put the jacket on and felt her heartbeat start racing.

"Oh, one last thing," the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a hair tie. "Do it tight."

"I don't have a mirror, it won't be perfect."

In response, the man opened a locker, revealing a smudged mirror. Lauren bent over and did her best to put her wet hair into a neat bun. It took a few minutes, a couple attempts, but just as the man started to tap his foot, Lauren tucked a stray hair under the hair tie, and she felt as presentable as she could get. They left the locker room and were outside on a covered path. They turned and went into an overgrown building. On the side was a symbol that looked just like the one at the Hatch, except instead of a Swan it was a different figure. Lauren tried to remember what the creature was called… Hydra, it's a hydra. Lauren was proud of her memory of Greek mythology, but knew it was only because of one of her patients. She shook off the thought as she focused on her surroundings. The building they entered was dimly lit and musty. The lights that were working, flickered, making Lauren feel even more anxious. Nothing about this situation was comforting, from the lighting to the panty hose, Lauren wished she could crawl out of her skin. Instead, she kept walking, her heels clicking. When they reached the end of the corridor, the bearded man knocked on the door.

"I'm Tom by the way," he said before turning the handle and entering the room. Lauren followed and was greeted by an older woman behind a desk. She was maybe mid-50s, with white hair in a bun with bangs. She wore muted colors and had a cold air about her. The woman held out her hand.

"My name is Isabel, welcome in."

Lauren willed her hand not to tremble as she greeted the woman.

"Lauren."

The woman beckoned for Lauren to sit in the chair in front of her desk, so she did, and Tom took a seat by the door. The woman perused a file on her desk for a minute, and Lauren waited, glancing about the room. There was nothing on the walls, not even a window, and the room was lined with filing cabinets and lockers. Nothing in the office gave anything away.

"Interesting…" Isabel murmured.

"What?" Lauren said barely above a whisper. Her question went unanswered, as Isabel continued to read. Lauren tried to peek over and see what it was she was reading, but Isabel held the pages out of view. Finally, after several minutes, Isabel closed the file.

"Why did you quit working at the hospital?"

Lauren was taken aback.

"How… What?"

"You only worked as a Child Life Specialist for two years and then you quit. Why?"

"I… How do you know all this?" Lauren's breathing was elevated and she felt a panic attack coming on. She couldn't focus on the question, just the information. How in the hell did they know this?

"Lauren, this is an interview. We ask the questions and you answer them. Why did you quit?" Isabel wasn't shaken by Lauren's reaction, she sat there, eyes squinting at Lauren, waiting for a direct answer to her question.

"I, um, couldn't handle it. The death. I lost 15 patients my first year. I was overworked and I just couldn't take it." Lauren shuddered, trying to regulate her breathing.

"Do you think that makes you weak?"

Lauren balked. This was her worst nightmare. Every insecurity was being questioned and she had nowhere to run. Lauren breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth and paused to think about the question. She was trying to get a hold of herself, and Lauren thought maybe playing this little game would help her focus.

"No. I was at my limit and I was respecting my limits." Lauren repeated her own affirmations out loud. She had told herself this countless times, willing herself to believe she was strong for quitting.

"Why become a flight attendant?"
"They were hiring."

Isabel smiled wryly and leaned back slightly in her chair. Lauren still felt shaky, but readied herself for the next question.

"Were you running away?"

Lauren's mother had asked the same question, Goddamn these people are good. "And what would I be running from?"

"Your failures."

"I didn't fail. I helped a lot of kids, I'm not a doctor, I couldn't have saved them."

"You didn't answer the question."

"No, I wasn't running away from my failures," Lauren was unconvincing.

"Why did you go into child development?"

"I don't know… I declared my major at the end of my sophomore year because I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just picked one that sounded interesting, was related to the medical field but didn't have me using needles or doing surgery. I like kids. It seemed like a good fit at the time."

"Or was it because your brother had a birth defect in his heart and you wanted to learn more about it?"

Eyes wide, Lauren sat back in her seat. She was not winning this game.

"Lauren, there's no hiding from us. This file tells me everything there is to know about you."

"Then why bring me in for an 'interview'," Lauren emphasized the air quotes with her shaking hands, her voice high pitched and anxious.

"How you answer tells us something, too."

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Lauren's mind raced. What are they going to do with me now? How did they get all of this information?

"Tom," Isabel finally said, "take Lauren to see Danny. You'll be working on his crew for a few weeks. You are not a prisoner. You are a probationary member of our community. If you listen to his instructions and conduct yourself correctly, you will get a job better suited for you."

Tom stood up and opened the door, beckoning Lauren to go first. She went and as Tom matched her pace, he whistled.

"She's a tough one, huh?"

Lauren glared at him, but he didn't see as he was pushing open the door to outside. They walked under the covered walkway, past some cages, and finally onto a path that led through the jungle. Lauren's heels sunk into the mud as they walked but Tom waited rather patiently each time they got stuck. When they finally made it through the jungle to their destination, Lauren couldn't believe what they were making her do.

In front of her was a rocky clearing, filled with people breaking rocks, hauling them and dumping them on a long path. Tom led her over to a man who had a gun on one hip and a walkie-talkie on the other. The man looked Lauren up and down.

"You're gonna go over there and chop those rocks," the man must be Danny.

"You expect me to do that wearing this?" Lauren asked incredulously.

"You can take it off if you want," he chuckled.

Lauren rolled her eyes and walked over to the pile of rocks, she picked up the pickaxe leaning against the pile, and heaved it over her shoulder. It was heavy and Lauren struggled under its weight. She set her eyes on a rock and put all her effort into slamming the pickaxe down, breaking the boulder into many pieces.