Fic Commentary: Something from Somewhere, Sometime
Recently toestastegood mentioned she would be interested in a commentary for the Charlie POV story I wrote for her luau request, Something from Somewhere, Sometime. This is the fic where I played around with the idea that the “We have to going back” mantra meant time travelling back to the day of the crash and ensuring that never happened. This would mean everyone who died after September 22, 2004 would be alive, but their memories of the island, and more importantly, things that happened like all their relationships, their growth, and Ji Yeon’s birth, would be wiped from existence. Was it worth it? Charlie thought so.
In my commentary, I point out my many plot holes, realized I doomed Desmond (and fan girls everywhere) to never have him wear the blue shirt, and get weepy over Vincent and Walt.
Title: Something from Somewhere, Sometime.
Characters: Charlie/Claire, ensemble
Rating: PG 13
Words: 2500
Warning: Spoilers up to the season 4 finale.
x x x
Charlie and Claire were sitting against a crest of rocks overlooking the ocean, their first class seats for the sunset, when they saw the boat.* They no longer looked for such things so they didn’t notice until its long black shadow cast a blemish on the palate of reds, oranges, and yellows swallowing the sky.
* When I did the first line meme I was appalled at how awkwardly phrased this opening line was!
“It’s a boat,” Charlie remarked in a colourless tone one might use when they encountered the mailman or a squirrel or an apple. Of course, none of those things were commonplace here; on the island, a better example would be a coconut or a seashell, or in the past, a crazy Other, bent on murdering you.* His nonchalance was feigned; inside he was bursting with nerves.
*In regards to that sarcastic ramble, it seems fitting that Charlie thinks like he speaks.
“It’s them, isn’t?” Claire’s voice, on the other hand, was reserved for sheer panic. Before waiting for his response, she had scrambled up off the rocks and was halfway down the beach before Charlie caught up to her.
He reached for her shoulder and held on, asking her to stop. “Claire...” She shrugged off his touch but halted her frantic walk.
“You knew about this, and you didn’t tell me.” Her voice warbled, verging between tears and anger.
Pretending he was as oblivious as her would only get him deeper in trouble, so he nodded. He visited Hurley on almost a weekly basis now. While he didn’t know it would be today, Charlie had known about the return of the island’s prodigal sons and daughters for a while.
“I didn’t want this, Charlie. He was safe where he was.”*
* The structure for laying out my “going back” ideas sprang for trying to reconcile dream!Claire and dead but here!Charlie’s different tones in their interactions with the O6. Charlie urges Hurley to go back. Claire warns Kate to not even consider the idea. One explanation is that neither Claire nor Charlie’s appearances are real, but are rather manifestations of Kate and Hurley’s subconscious or the island fucking with the O6. If not, I could see Claire not wanting Aaron to ever touch that piece of land again, just as Charlie must have some good reason for wanting the O6 to come back.
Out of the corner of his eye, Charlie could see people gathering at the shore. Those who still made their home at the beach camp had noticed the boat too and were huddled together, trying to figure out what to do. He could tell Boone was making some sort of passionate speech while Christian stood behind him.* Charlie felt he should go over to help plead their case one last time because there were still a few key people wavering about the proposed plan, especially Rose, Juliet, and Jin.** It looked like Boone had things under control for now, so Charlie focused all his attention on Claire. “He’ll be even safer now. We finally have the chance to set things right, for everyone.”
* It’s my person canon that Boone’s early death gives him ghostly seniority over the other dead. Plus I think he would want to go back for the greater good. While Boone’s the public relations manager for this plan, it’s Christian who is the real mastermind. Going back won’t save him, but he’s trying to do what he thinks is best for Jack, Claire, and Aaron.
** I think these three would have the hardest time swallowing the plan: Rose, for spiritual reasons doesn’t think it is their place to play god, Jin, because he’s just happy Sun and Ji Yeon are alive, and Juliet, because putting her back with The Others does not really improve her life.
Claire’s face softened and she cupped his cheek. “This was nice, just you and me. Why do you want everything to change?”*
* Plot hole #1 - So even though the island ghosts are dead, they are also “living”, i.e. not dead and buried, but going about their days. Sure they are trapped on the island and there are limited interactions with the living, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Charlie and Claire appear to have made peace with their deaths and have found themselves in a much better relationship than when they were alive. So, would they risk it all to go back? I don’t know. I could see Charlie wanting Claire and Aaron to have a second chance together, and some of the others wanting off the island once and for all.
He reached up and held his hand on top of hers, always amazed at how small her hand felt and how big she made his feel, even though there was little difference in size. They could stay like this forever. It would be easy to forget everything and everyone so they could have their sunsets and sunrises together everyday, but he wanted more for her. “Trust me. No one is where they belong. This is for you and Aaron.”
Her features tightened into a frown, and her hand slipped out of his and dropped to her side. “That’s not possible. He was never meant to be with me.” She took off again, feet stomping, fists clenched. Over her shoulder, she called to him. “It wouldn’t have worked anyway, Charlie. They won’t all be back.”*
* So I’m speculating here they all need to come back for the time reset thing to work. All the bodies, dead and living have to be physically present for the course to be corrected.
Claire was wrong. All ten of them had come back, the six, plus Walt, Desmond, Frank and Ji Yeon; eleven if you count John’s body which is who Charlie assumed was in the coffin Jack and Sayid had carried ashore. He guessed Ben remained on the boat, close enough to do his bit, without risking angering the island gods by breaking his exile.* By the way Desmond looked longingly at the boat and haggardly clutched the unopened bottle at it his side, it wouldn’t surprise Charlie to learn Penny had been the one to deliver them all here, just as she had been the one to take them away. He was happy to be spared the scene of their separation.** It was hard enough to see Sun and her daughter here. The wiggly little girl was desperate to be released from her mother’s arms, but Sun refused to let her down so she could play in the waves with Aaron.
* I imagined Ben rubbing his hands in glee at the thought of becoming King of the Island again and having his daughter back. Unfortunately, he would be stuck with his tumour, but I’m sure he has a plan to deal with that too.
** Out of everyone I think Desmond has the least reason to return. He had been there the longest and has no one to go back for. And like Juliet “going back” would strand him back in a nightmare. I have to think that Penny’s big heart made him do it. She felt he needed to make amends to people like Charlie, and she promised to find him no matter what.
At the sight of Aaron, tiny arms flung out, happily running, spinning like he was Maria Von Trapp on the Alps, Charlie looked to see if Claire was around.* She was not among the fallen who, even though they couldn’t be seen unless they wanted, had retreated to the tree line, either because they needed space or because they thought the newcomers did. All except Sawyer, who of course, chose to remain reading his book on his old chair, putting on a good show that there was nothing at all strange about his old camp mates suddenly appearing after three years and him, dead but here.**
* It’s cliché to have toddler Aaron equate the island with home, but I could not help this description.
** These actions felt very Sawyer-like to me, but I also needed to have this here so the readers would finally get that everyone was dead. This was the big tragedy that Locke had warned the O6 about. I imagine people died from an all out war with the Others, maybe some got the fabled sickness and went mad, or died from it being difficult to survive for three years as castaways.
Charlie joined Shannon to one side of the crowd and watched the newly returned tour their old and seemingly deserted camp, unaware they were being watched; they ran their hands over the worn tent canvasses and wooden furniture, as if they needed to touch everything to remember this had once been their lives.
“It’s creepy,” Shannon said, arms folded tightly under her breasts. “It’s like they’re visiting a museum.”
“More like a ghost town,” he remarked dryly, as Kate almost walked through Sawyer.
“Do you think they’ll do it?”*
* I think Lenina20 originally read this line as Kate and Sawyer ‘doing it’ as kinky ghost sex.
“I doubt they would have come all this way, if they hadn’t considered it.”
While Charlie observed from the sidelines, Jin could no longer contain himself and broke from the crowd. He couldn’t bring himself to approach his wife and daughter so he just stood beside Sawyer getting a closer look. Meanwhile Jin’s passing through the camp seemed to have raised the hairs on the back of Hurley’s neck. He stopped building up the old campfire and squinted into the dusk. Charlie raised his hand and let himself be seen by Hurley, who came bounding over, nearly knocking over Shannon in the process.*
* I wanted to preserve Hurley and Charlie’s special bond and not make it seem like every one of the O6 were constantly chatting up the dead.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
Even though they had seen each other only a week ago, Hurley folded Charlie into a huge hug like it had actually been three years. Maybe he knew that if things went as they should, this might be the last time they saw each other.*
* I remember being quite worried that readers would just give up because they had no idea what the plan was, but I didn’t want to reveal it just yet.
“It’s just like you said,” Hurley remarked when he released Charlie. “There’s no one left.” He lowered his voice, “Is everyone else…here?”
“Tell him he’s nearly broke me foot,” Shannon replied haughtily.
“Shannon says hi.”
* Ah Charlie, translating for bitchy ghosts since 2004.
“Hey Shannon,” Hurley waved to the wrong side of Charlie. Shannon just huffed in response and walked over to join her brother.
“Hurley, you did it. They’re all here.”
“Well, it was mainly Sayid and Jack. I just got the ball running.”*
* So Hurley was the heart of this operation, Sayid (via Ben) was the brains, and Jack was the beard…wait, no, Jack was proof that they would all go mad if they did not confront their past. I think Jack’s fragile state of mind must have finally convinced Kate it was worth going back, if only to give Jack peace of mind that they tried. Once she was there and sees with her own eyes that everyone, everyone, was truly gone, she would have allowed herself to think more broadly about the situation.
“I can’t believe you got Desmond to step foot on this island again.”
“That was all Penny. She said he had to set things right and she would find him no matter what.”
“How is Sun?” Charlie asked next. He could see she had finally put Ji Yeon down on the ground, yet wouldn’t release her hand.*
* Plot hole #2 - I don’t think any mother, especially Sun, would risk losing her child to save her husband or anyone else. I think Sun would consider it and reject it, as would Jin, but I needed their reluctant cooperation for this story to work.
“Ummm, not good, but she came. We’ve left it up to her. She’s going to decide in the morning. What about on your end?”
“The same. Jin’s still an adamant no. Juliet’s terrified about going back, but she’s done the math and won’t let that stand in the way of everyone else. I think Bernard will get Rose to change her mind about us playing god.”
“And Claire?”
Charlie shook her head. “She’s worried that no matter what happens, Aaron won’t end up with her. Did you know she was going to Los Angeles to give him up for adoption?”*
* Beyond the weird sci-fi elements of the plot, I think this is a fair concern for Claire to have.
“Yeah.” Hurley shuffled his feet. “It’s like that war movie with women and the kids and the choice. * It’s not really about the math, is it? At least with Aaron, we know he’ll be born. Ji Yeon’s the real question mark in all this.”**
* I doubt Hurley has ever seen Sophie’s Choice, but there are enough pop culture references about it that I could see him referring to it.
** Jin’s infertility is the nail in the coffin for my plot hole #2.
“The biggest,” Charlie agreed. If he was Sun, he couldn’t say that he would have even come this far. He couldn’t make the choice for her or Jin; all he could do was what he thought was best for his family, and that was giving Claire back a chance to be Aaron’s mother again and giving her back her life. It would also save everyone who died in the crash and those who had since been sacrificed, beginning with Boone and his fall and ending with Miles and the spider bite. Plus there were people like Alex and Karl and Danielle who would get a second chance too.
The only one who didn’t need a second chance, the last remaining living survivor of Flight 815, suddenly streamed out of the jungle and crashed into Walt, knocking the young man over into the sand where they rolled around for a good while, like one was still a kid and the other was still a pup.*
* Oh Vincent, I could never kill you. I’m a big sap and got teary re-reading Walt and Vincent’s reunion.
Charlie left Hurley around midnight and went looking for Claire. He found her perched in a little ball, sitting on the edge of the severed cockpit. He didn’t say anything, just crawled up and sat beside her, rubbing tiny circles on her back.
It was Claire who spoke first. “I saw him,” she confessed like it was a bad thing. “I felt like my dad must have, sneaking around like that….He looked different than he did in California, like he was finally home.”
“Crazy kid, wait until he meets the polar bear.”
His bad joke actually brought a small smile to Claire’s face. “I wish I could thank Kate, but I can’t, you know.”*
* I am in no rush to write a reunion where the two of them meet. It would be heartbreaking on all sides, and I don’t even like Kate all that much!
“I know.”
“They all came back.” This acknowledgement seemed to be a surrender of sorts and she leaned into him completely, letting some of the tension fall out of her.
“They did.”
“So…” Claire let out an exhale that appeared to originate from her toes. “What are they going to do?”
“Well, they’ve got a map to The Orchid and instructions on how to work that thing. Of course they came from Ben, so for all we know it’s going to rain bunnies tomorrow and we’ll wake up with him as the lead singer of U2 and President of Namibia.” *
* A lot of people commented on that line. I was worried it was a lame example, but it does present a fun visual.
That got another soft smile from Claire, so he kept going, deciding talking was the best way to keep her from crying. “I brought Daniel to Desmond. He wrote on the back of Desmond’s photo of Penny everything that what will happen if he lets the Swan counter rundown. Hopefully he’ll understand the message from beyond or this will all be for not.” *
* Plot hole #3 - So if this plan works no one is supposed to remember anything, so I am not sure how Daniel’s message would survive the “going back” let alone how Desmond would even interpret it correctly. But I needed some sort of device that would ensure the plane would not crash. Damn, I just thought that if that plan works, Desmond will never get the blue shirt. That’s up there with Ji Yeon not ever being born in terms of sacrifices!
Charlie stopped rubbing her back and wrapped his arm around Claire. “Then tomorrow…,” he said gently. “If you, Sun and Jin say yes, Jack and Kate are going to hike up to The Orchid and take us all back to September 22, 2004.”*
* I guess I waited until here to reveal everything about the big plan. I hope that wasn’t too confusing. I’ve had it in my head for a while, even before the time travel stuff, that the last scene in the series would be Flight 815 landing in Los Angeles and everyone getting off the plane, memories wiped. I know this is not an emotionally satisfying conclusion, but the way the deaths are mounting, there will only be a handful of people alive at the end. I think giving back life would be one way to prove this journey was worth it for all those who were sacrificed along the way.
Claire surprised him with her next comment, bringing up what should be the least of their concerns. “Charlie, if this works, you know, we won’t ever know each other.”
In the last three years, ever since he found Claire in Jacob’s cabin, inexplicitly dead but here like him, they had rarely left each other’s sides.* This seems minimal in terms of Desmond sacrificing his freedom, Juliet returning to the Others, alive, but still trapped, and Jin and Sun giving up their daughter for each other, but he can’t deny it had been on the forefront of his mind ever since Christian Shephard concocted this crazy scheme. If it worked, Christian said no one would remember anything of their life lived in this time zone, this reality, but the plane would never crash, and they would be free.
* I have another theory that Claire has actually been technically dead since the crash, but that the island temporarily resurrected her so she could give birth to Aaron and kept her “alive” until he had a chance to live without her - but that crazy idea is for another story altogether.
Still, he couldn’t help hope that all the good things that had been born of this place, would somehow come to be on the other side. He would get clean. Claire would keep Aaron. They would find all the pieces that had been missing before.*
* I feel that way too. And in some ways it would reinforce what was meant to be. And it did in my sequel to this story, Collision.
Charlie gave a nervous laugh, “Who's to say my heroin chic looks won’t attract the attention of the girl with the big belly?”
She snorted, snuggling closer. “Yeah, look for me in the front row of your next gig. I’ll be the one throwing my nursing bra on stage.”
“That’s the spirit.”*
* This is the first time I wrote Charlie/Claire in an established relationship. Normally I feel the timing was just not right for these two. Claire needed to focus on Aaron, and couldn’t give herself to a relationship. And Charlie’s insecurities made it a bumpy road for them even just as friends. But I would like to think that they could move beyond this given the chance, and I guess in this world, death was their chance.
Claire untucked herself slightly from him so she could reach his lips. She brushed hers against his lightly, and whispered, “Whatever happens tomorrow....”
“Happens.” He caught her mouth, and as he kissed her, forced her taste and touch into the furthest corner of his memory, and buried them away in a place that he hoped time could not touch.
x x x
“Sir, are you all right?”
“Just a minute.” Charlie clutches the baggy in his hand and grips the edge of the tiny sink as he waits to feel the heroin work its magic. “Just a minute.”
“I'm going have to ask that you open the door, please.”
Charlie ignores the flight attendant and gazes into the mirror where he sees the familiar effects of his hit before he feels it. His facial muscles go slack and his eyes droop, almost closing. He blinks and the image in the mirror changes abruptly. He finds himself staring into the face of an angry white bear. The bear disappears and is replaced by an explosion, a dark cave, his guitar, a pretty girl with the brightest hair and eyes he’s ever seen, an empty plastic jar, a golf club, a baby, a gun, a computer, a van, a bottle of scotch, an arrow, a piece of paper, a fire extinguisher, and lots and lots of people. *
* I imagine this was how Desmond felt in Flashes Before Your Eyes when he could see snippets of the future, only it was more intense for Charlie because of what had just happened, plus, you know, all that heroin.
The angelic girl pops up a few more times. Before he can attempt to place her, a pocket of turbulence hits the plane and he’s thrown backward. Charlie hits his head on the wall and fumbles for his baggy. He thinks it has fallen in the toilet, but before he can check, the door of the bathroom falls open and he stumbles into the arms of the stern steward.
They clutch each other as the plane slowly stabilizes. Once it does, Charlie finds himself being half dragged, half carried back to his seat. He holds his head and allows himself to be carried along, not sure if he should worry about his drugs being found or losing them. He’s momentarily distracted from this conundrum when he thinks he spots a glimpse of the girl from the mirror, a fellow passenger, seated on the other side of the plane. They move too fast and he loses her in the crowd.
When he’s seated, and secured once again in his seatbelt, he closes his eyes, and splays his fingers against his lips, remembering something from somewhere, sometime.
* So as depressing as that scenario is in many ways, I hope I left it on a happy note to say that memories would come back in some way, and things that were meant to be righted, would be. To me this is a happy ending, as happy as you can get in the world of Lost. I think subconsciously people will take the lessons they learned on the island and use it to not repeat the same mistakes and improve their lives. I think those who have close ties will find each other again, as per my sequel to this story Collision.
x x x
In my commentary, I point out my many plot holes, realized I doomed Desmond (and fan girls everywhere) to never have him wear the blue shirt, and get weepy over Vincent and Walt.
Title: Something from Somewhere, Sometime.
Characters: Charlie/Claire, ensemble
Rating: PG 13
Words: 2500
Warning: Spoilers up to the season 4 finale.
x x x
Charlie and Claire were sitting against a crest of rocks overlooking the ocean, their first class seats for the sunset, when they saw the boat.* They no longer looked for such things so they didn’t notice until its long black shadow cast a blemish on the palate of reds, oranges, and yellows swallowing the sky.
* When I did the first line meme I was appalled at how awkwardly phrased this opening line was!
“It’s a boat,” Charlie remarked in a colourless tone one might use when they encountered the mailman or a squirrel or an apple. Of course, none of those things were commonplace here; on the island, a better example would be a coconut or a seashell, or in the past, a crazy Other, bent on murdering you.* His nonchalance was feigned; inside he was bursting with nerves.
*In regards to that sarcastic ramble, it seems fitting that Charlie thinks like he speaks.
“It’s them, isn’t?” Claire’s voice, on the other hand, was reserved for sheer panic. Before waiting for his response, she had scrambled up off the rocks and was halfway down the beach before Charlie caught up to her.
He reached for her shoulder and held on, asking her to stop. “Claire...” She shrugged off his touch but halted her frantic walk.
“You knew about this, and you didn’t tell me.” Her voice warbled, verging between tears and anger.
Pretending he was as oblivious as her would only get him deeper in trouble, so he nodded. He visited Hurley on almost a weekly basis now. While he didn’t know it would be today, Charlie had known about the return of the island’s prodigal sons and daughters for a while.
“I didn’t want this, Charlie. He was safe where he was.”*
* The structure for laying out my “going back” ideas sprang for trying to reconcile dream!Claire and dead but here!Charlie’s different tones in their interactions with the O6. Charlie urges Hurley to go back. Claire warns Kate to not even consider the idea. One explanation is that neither Claire nor Charlie’s appearances are real, but are rather manifestations of Kate and Hurley’s subconscious or the island fucking with the O6. If not, I could see Claire not wanting Aaron to ever touch that piece of land again, just as Charlie must have some good reason for wanting the O6 to come back.
Out of the corner of his eye, Charlie could see people gathering at the shore. Those who still made their home at the beach camp had noticed the boat too and were huddled together, trying to figure out what to do. He could tell Boone was making some sort of passionate speech while Christian stood behind him.* Charlie felt he should go over to help plead their case one last time because there were still a few key people wavering about the proposed plan, especially Rose, Juliet, and Jin.** It looked like Boone had things under control for now, so Charlie focused all his attention on Claire. “He’ll be even safer now. We finally have the chance to set things right, for everyone.”
* It’s my person canon that Boone’s early death gives him ghostly seniority over the other dead. Plus I think he would want to go back for the greater good. While Boone’s the public relations manager for this plan, it’s Christian who is the real mastermind. Going back won’t save him, but he’s trying to do what he thinks is best for Jack, Claire, and Aaron.
** I think these three would have the hardest time swallowing the plan: Rose, for spiritual reasons doesn’t think it is their place to play god, Jin, because he’s just happy Sun and Ji Yeon are alive, and Juliet, because putting her back with The Others does not really improve her life.
Claire’s face softened and she cupped his cheek. “This was nice, just you and me. Why do you want everything to change?”*
* Plot hole #1 - So even though the island ghosts are dead, they are also “living”, i.e. not dead and buried, but going about their days. Sure they are trapped on the island and there are limited interactions with the living, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Charlie and Claire appear to have made peace with their deaths and have found themselves in a much better relationship than when they were alive. So, would they risk it all to go back? I don’t know. I could see Charlie wanting Claire and Aaron to have a second chance together, and some of the others wanting off the island once and for all.
He reached up and held his hand on top of hers, always amazed at how small her hand felt and how big she made his feel, even though there was little difference in size. They could stay like this forever. It would be easy to forget everything and everyone so they could have their sunsets and sunrises together everyday, but he wanted more for her. “Trust me. No one is where they belong. This is for you and Aaron.”
Her features tightened into a frown, and her hand slipped out of his and dropped to her side. “That’s not possible. He was never meant to be with me.” She took off again, feet stomping, fists clenched. Over her shoulder, she called to him. “It wouldn’t have worked anyway, Charlie. They won’t all be back.”*
* So I’m speculating here they all need to come back for the time reset thing to work. All the bodies, dead and living have to be physically present for the course to be corrected.
Claire was wrong. All ten of them had come back, the six, plus Walt, Desmond, Frank and Ji Yeon; eleven if you count John’s body which is who Charlie assumed was in the coffin Jack and Sayid had carried ashore. He guessed Ben remained on the boat, close enough to do his bit, without risking angering the island gods by breaking his exile.* By the way Desmond looked longingly at the boat and haggardly clutched the unopened bottle at it his side, it wouldn’t surprise Charlie to learn Penny had been the one to deliver them all here, just as she had been the one to take them away. He was happy to be spared the scene of their separation.** It was hard enough to see Sun and her daughter here. The wiggly little girl was desperate to be released from her mother’s arms, but Sun refused to let her down so she could play in the waves with Aaron.
* I imagined Ben rubbing his hands in glee at the thought of becoming King of the Island again and having his daughter back. Unfortunately, he would be stuck with his tumour, but I’m sure he has a plan to deal with that too.
** Out of everyone I think Desmond has the least reason to return. He had been there the longest and has no one to go back for. And like Juliet “going back” would strand him back in a nightmare. I have to think that Penny’s big heart made him do it. She felt he needed to make amends to people like Charlie, and she promised to find him no matter what.
At the sight of Aaron, tiny arms flung out, happily running, spinning like he was Maria Von Trapp on the Alps, Charlie looked to see if Claire was around.* She was not among the fallen who, even though they couldn’t be seen unless they wanted, had retreated to the tree line, either because they needed space or because they thought the newcomers did. All except Sawyer, who of course, chose to remain reading his book on his old chair, putting on a good show that there was nothing at all strange about his old camp mates suddenly appearing after three years and him, dead but here.**
* It’s cliché to have toddler Aaron equate the island with home, but I could not help this description.
** These actions felt very Sawyer-like to me, but I also needed to have this here so the readers would finally get that everyone was dead. This was the big tragedy that Locke had warned the O6 about. I imagine people died from an all out war with the Others, maybe some got the fabled sickness and went mad, or died from it being difficult to survive for three years as castaways.
Charlie joined Shannon to one side of the crowd and watched the newly returned tour their old and seemingly deserted camp, unaware they were being watched; they ran their hands over the worn tent canvasses and wooden furniture, as if they needed to touch everything to remember this had once been their lives.
“It’s creepy,” Shannon said, arms folded tightly under her breasts. “It’s like they’re visiting a museum.”
“More like a ghost town,” he remarked dryly, as Kate almost walked through Sawyer.
“Do you think they’ll do it?”*
* I think Lenina20 originally read this line as Kate and Sawyer ‘doing it’ as kinky ghost sex.
“I doubt they would have come all this way, if they hadn’t considered it.”
While Charlie observed from the sidelines, Jin could no longer contain himself and broke from the crowd. He couldn’t bring himself to approach his wife and daughter so he just stood beside Sawyer getting a closer look. Meanwhile Jin’s passing through the camp seemed to have raised the hairs on the back of Hurley’s neck. He stopped building up the old campfire and squinted into the dusk. Charlie raised his hand and let himself be seen by Hurley, who came bounding over, nearly knocking over Shannon in the process.*
* I wanted to preserve Hurley and Charlie’s special bond and not make it seem like every one of the O6 were constantly chatting up the dead.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
Even though they had seen each other only a week ago, Hurley folded Charlie into a huge hug like it had actually been three years. Maybe he knew that if things went as they should, this might be the last time they saw each other.*
* I remember being quite worried that readers would just give up because they had no idea what the plan was, but I didn’t want to reveal it just yet.
“It’s just like you said,” Hurley remarked when he released Charlie. “There’s no one left.” He lowered his voice, “Is everyone else…here?”
“Tell him he’s nearly broke me foot,” Shannon replied haughtily.
“Shannon says hi.”
* Ah Charlie, translating for bitchy ghosts since 2004.
“Hey Shannon,” Hurley waved to the wrong side of Charlie. Shannon just huffed in response and walked over to join her brother.
“Hurley, you did it. They’re all here.”
“Well, it was mainly Sayid and Jack. I just got the ball running.”*
* So Hurley was the heart of this operation, Sayid (via Ben) was the brains, and Jack was the beard…wait, no, Jack was proof that they would all go mad if they did not confront their past. I think Jack’s fragile state of mind must have finally convinced Kate it was worth going back, if only to give Jack peace of mind that they tried. Once she was there and sees with her own eyes that everyone, everyone, was truly gone, she would have allowed herself to think more broadly about the situation.
“I can’t believe you got Desmond to step foot on this island again.”
“That was all Penny. She said he had to set things right and she would find him no matter what.”
“How is Sun?” Charlie asked next. He could see she had finally put Ji Yeon down on the ground, yet wouldn’t release her hand.*
* Plot hole #2 - I don’t think any mother, especially Sun, would risk losing her child to save her husband or anyone else. I think Sun would consider it and reject it, as would Jin, but I needed their reluctant cooperation for this story to work.
“Ummm, not good, but she came. We’ve left it up to her. She’s going to decide in the morning. What about on your end?”
“The same. Jin’s still an adamant no. Juliet’s terrified about going back, but she’s done the math and won’t let that stand in the way of everyone else. I think Bernard will get Rose to change her mind about us playing god.”
“And Claire?”
Charlie shook her head. “She’s worried that no matter what happens, Aaron won’t end up with her. Did you know she was going to Los Angeles to give him up for adoption?”*
* Beyond the weird sci-fi elements of the plot, I think this is a fair concern for Claire to have.
“Yeah.” Hurley shuffled his feet. “It’s like that war movie with women and the kids and the choice. * It’s not really about the math, is it? At least with Aaron, we know he’ll be born. Ji Yeon’s the real question mark in all this.”**
* I doubt Hurley has ever seen Sophie’s Choice, but there are enough pop culture references about it that I could see him referring to it.
** Jin’s infertility is the nail in the coffin for my plot hole #2.
“The biggest,” Charlie agreed. If he was Sun, he couldn’t say that he would have even come this far. He couldn’t make the choice for her or Jin; all he could do was what he thought was best for his family, and that was giving Claire back a chance to be Aaron’s mother again and giving her back her life. It would also save everyone who died in the crash and those who had since been sacrificed, beginning with Boone and his fall and ending with Miles and the spider bite. Plus there were people like Alex and Karl and Danielle who would get a second chance too.
The only one who didn’t need a second chance, the last remaining living survivor of Flight 815, suddenly streamed out of the jungle and crashed into Walt, knocking the young man over into the sand where they rolled around for a good while, like one was still a kid and the other was still a pup.*
* Oh Vincent, I could never kill you. I’m a big sap and got teary re-reading Walt and Vincent’s reunion.
Charlie left Hurley around midnight and went looking for Claire. He found her perched in a little ball, sitting on the edge of the severed cockpit. He didn’t say anything, just crawled up and sat beside her, rubbing tiny circles on her back.
It was Claire who spoke first. “I saw him,” she confessed like it was a bad thing. “I felt like my dad must have, sneaking around like that….He looked different than he did in California, like he was finally home.”
“Crazy kid, wait until he meets the polar bear.”
His bad joke actually brought a small smile to Claire’s face. “I wish I could thank Kate, but I can’t, you know.”*
* I am in no rush to write a reunion where the two of them meet. It would be heartbreaking on all sides, and I don’t even like Kate all that much!
“I know.”
“They all came back.” This acknowledgement seemed to be a surrender of sorts and she leaned into him completely, letting some of the tension fall out of her.
“They did.”
“So…” Claire let out an exhale that appeared to originate from her toes. “What are they going to do?”
“Well, they’ve got a map to The Orchid and instructions on how to work that thing. Of course they came from Ben, so for all we know it’s going to rain bunnies tomorrow and we’ll wake up with him as the lead singer of U2 and President of Namibia.” *
* A lot of people commented on that line. I was worried it was a lame example, but it does present a fun visual.
That got another soft smile from Claire, so he kept going, deciding talking was the best way to keep her from crying. “I brought Daniel to Desmond. He wrote on the back of Desmond’s photo of Penny everything that what will happen if he lets the Swan counter rundown. Hopefully he’ll understand the message from beyond or this will all be for not.” *
* Plot hole #3 - So if this plan works no one is supposed to remember anything, so I am not sure how Daniel’s message would survive the “going back” let alone how Desmond would even interpret it correctly. But I needed some sort of device that would ensure the plane would not crash. Damn, I just thought that if that plan works, Desmond will never get the blue shirt. That’s up there with Ji Yeon not ever being born in terms of sacrifices!
Charlie stopped rubbing her back and wrapped his arm around Claire. “Then tomorrow…,” he said gently. “If you, Sun and Jin say yes, Jack and Kate are going to hike up to The Orchid and take us all back to September 22, 2004.”*
* I guess I waited until here to reveal everything about the big plan. I hope that wasn’t too confusing. I’ve had it in my head for a while, even before the time travel stuff, that the last scene in the series would be Flight 815 landing in Los Angeles and everyone getting off the plane, memories wiped. I know this is not an emotionally satisfying conclusion, but the way the deaths are mounting, there will only be a handful of people alive at the end. I think giving back life would be one way to prove this journey was worth it for all those who were sacrificed along the way.
Claire surprised him with her next comment, bringing up what should be the least of their concerns. “Charlie, if this works, you know, we won’t ever know each other.”
In the last three years, ever since he found Claire in Jacob’s cabin, inexplicitly dead but here like him, they had rarely left each other’s sides.* This seems minimal in terms of Desmond sacrificing his freedom, Juliet returning to the Others, alive, but still trapped, and Jin and Sun giving up their daughter for each other, but he can’t deny it had been on the forefront of his mind ever since Christian Shephard concocted this crazy scheme. If it worked, Christian said no one would remember anything of their life lived in this time zone, this reality, but the plane would never crash, and they would be free.
* I have another theory that Claire has actually been technically dead since the crash, but that the island temporarily resurrected her so she could give birth to Aaron and kept her “alive” until he had a chance to live without her - but that crazy idea is for another story altogether.
Still, he couldn’t help hope that all the good things that had been born of this place, would somehow come to be on the other side. He would get clean. Claire would keep Aaron. They would find all the pieces that had been missing before.*
* I feel that way too. And in some ways it would reinforce what was meant to be. And it did in my sequel to this story, Collision.
Charlie gave a nervous laugh, “Who's to say my heroin chic looks won’t attract the attention of the girl with the big belly?”
She snorted, snuggling closer. “Yeah, look for me in the front row of your next gig. I’ll be the one throwing my nursing bra on stage.”
“That’s the spirit.”*
* This is the first time I wrote Charlie/Claire in an established relationship. Normally I feel the timing was just not right for these two. Claire needed to focus on Aaron, and couldn’t give herself to a relationship. And Charlie’s insecurities made it a bumpy road for them even just as friends. But I would like to think that they could move beyond this given the chance, and I guess in this world, death was their chance.
Claire untucked herself slightly from him so she could reach his lips. She brushed hers against his lightly, and whispered, “Whatever happens tomorrow....”
“Happens.” He caught her mouth, and as he kissed her, forced her taste and touch into the furthest corner of his memory, and buried them away in a place that he hoped time could not touch.
x x x
“Sir, are you all right?”
“Just a minute.” Charlie clutches the baggy in his hand and grips the edge of the tiny sink as he waits to feel the heroin work its magic. “Just a minute.”
“I'm going have to ask that you open the door, please.”
Charlie ignores the flight attendant and gazes into the mirror where he sees the familiar effects of his hit before he feels it. His facial muscles go slack and his eyes droop, almost closing. He blinks and the image in the mirror changes abruptly. He finds himself staring into the face of an angry white bear. The bear disappears and is replaced by an explosion, a dark cave, his guitar, a pretty girl with the brightest hair and eyes he’s ever seen, an empty plastic jar, a golf club, a baby, a gun, a computer, a van, a bottle of scotch, an arrow, a piece of paper, a fire extinguisher, and lots and lots of people. *
* I imagine this was how Desmond felt in Flashes Before Your Eyes when he could see snippets of the future, only it was more intense for Charlie because of what had just happened, plus, you know, all that heroin.
The angelic girl pops up a few more times. Before he can attempt to place her, a pocket of turbulence hits the plane and he’s thrown backward. Charlie hits his head on the wall and fumbles for his baggy. He thinks it has fallen in the toilet, but before he can check, the door of the bathroom falls open and he stumbles into the arms of the stern steward.
They clutch each other as the plane slowly stabilizes. Once it does, Charlie finds himself being half dragged, half carried back to his seat. He holds his head and allows himself to be carried along, not sure if he should worry about his drugs being found or losing them. He’s momentarily distracted from this conundrum when he thinks he spots a glimpse of the girl from the mirror, a fellow passenger, seated on the other side of the plane. They move too fast and he loses her in the crowd.
When he’s seated, and secured once again in his seatbelt, he closes his eyes, and splays his fingers against his lips, remembering something from somewhere, sometime.
* So as depressing as that scenario is in many ways, I hope I left it on a happy note to say that memories would come back in some way, and things that were meant to be righted, would be. To me this is a happy ending, as happy as you can get in the world of Lost. I think subconsciously people will take the lessons they learned on the island and use it to not repeat the same mistakes and improve their lives. I think those who have close ties will find each other again, as per my sequel to this story Collision.
x x x