His first year, he'd been a lion.

At around 8 months, his initially bald head had turned into a little mane. Kate often referred to him as her little lion, ruffling his golden hair like she often still did. It had been a no-brainer to dress him as one, for his first Halloween, the day before his first birthday.

She'd considered dressing him as known characters, but he was too little to have any he liked and she didn't want to make a big choice and have it backfire on her in the future. So she'd chosen cuteness and simplicity over pop culture.

It made her wonder what Sawyer would say if he knew. He'd always loved his pop culture references and used them to give people nicknames on the island; Hurley, more often than not, had been a victim of those. Jack, she knew, didn't care much about Halloween at all, and really, neither did she. But she'd vowed to be the best mom she could be, not just for Aaron, but for Claire, too. And Halloween was a big part of childhood, even if he wouldn't remember it.

Kate'd taken so many pictures that she'd filled a whole roll of film, but still, she'd had a hard time picking which ones to add to the triple frame she'd bought. It still hung on the wall by the entrance and Aaron often pointed at it and talked about it. A day shy of 4 years old, lions were still his favorite — whether or not that Halloween had influenced it or not, she couldn't be sure.

On his second Halloween, she hadn't been there.

It'd been unfortunate, really, that she'd had to spend a few months in jail until her trial. It hadn't been long, but it had felt like forever.

Her lawyer had tried to argue against the preventative jail time and so had she. She had no desire to run anymore, she had nothing left to run from. All she wanted was to raise her son in peace. But they hadn't listened, and why would they, when she had done nothing but run since Wayne had blown up?

Tania, the nanny she'd had helping her out since they'd settled into the house, when Aaron was eight months old, had sent pictures of his first time trick or treating and the guilt of missing a milestone, combined with the pain of missing his second birthday weighed on her. She'd laughed at the costume choice, though, contouring his painted cheeks with her finger on the picture.

She had never liked clowns. She could only assume it had something to do with her mother dressing her as one for Halloween when she was a small child, too. But she had to admit that Aaron made a really cute one.

For his third Halloween, Aaron had been Superman.

He'd been obsessed with the cartoons for almost a whole year and, when Kate and Jack had brought up the concept of dressing up as characters for the holiday, he'd squealed out his request.

It was simple enough, easy.

They'd made a big deal of going to the store, of finding it in the perfect size, and trying it on. Jack had cheered for him and held him up above his head, weeks later, so he could fly through the house just before trick or treating.

It had been their one and only Halloween as a family. Kate would always cherish that memory the most.

For his fourth Halloween, Aaron wanted to be Speed Racer. They'd seen the movie in theaters in April that year and he'd been obsessed ever since.

It was an attempt to cheer him up after so much change back and forth, for a kid his age. When they'd returned from the island, after leaving a dying Jack behind, Claire had chosen not to raise Aaron, but she wanted to be in his life. It had taken time for Carole to agree to it, but ultimately they'd returned him to Kate, who was happy to make arrangements so they could all be involved in his life.

Cars had become everything. If anyone asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, his answer was always "race car driver". Everything in his little life had revolved around that movie for the six months leading to Halloween and, of course, Kate wanted to make his wish of being Speed Racer for the holiday come true.

Panic started to rise when she couldn't find the costume anywhere. Everywhere she went, people either didn't know what it was or shook their heads at her and recommended another store. She'd called Claire, who had done her fair share of looking, eager to get something right, to do right by her son, but she too had come up empty.

"If Jack had been here, he'd figure it out.", she thought to herself. And that was enough of an answer.

She remembered their first conversation on the island, when she thought he'd caught her taking her handcuffs off, but instead was just asking her for help to stitch up a large gash on his back. He'd asked her if she'd ever sewn anything and she'd talked about the drapes she'd made for her house in Florida, when she was married and giving the stay-at-home wife life a shot.

There was no way of knowing if her new project would turn out well, but she could at least say that she'd tried her best.

Kate bought a new sewing machine and all the faux leather white fabric she could get her hands on. Claire had helped, sharing the little knowledge she had about clothes from when she personalized her own as a teenager. She'd felt good about being part of it, about Kate allowing her to be involved.

It had taken them multiple failed attempts, and several measuring adjustments, but by October 29th, they had in their hands a miniature white jumpsuit and a small white helmet they'd managed to stick a red M on.

Aaron's smile and gleeful laughter had made everything worth the hours they'd poured into making his costume from scratch. And that year, when they'd taken him trick or treating together, Kate knew Jack would be smiling down at them, wherever he was.