Fic: The Forsaken (Charles/Eloise)
Title: The Forsaken (6/6)
Characters: Charles/Eloise, Richard, Daniel, Ben, Sawyer, Juliet, Penny, Desmond
Disclaimer: Lost is not mine. Seriously? Seriously.
Rating: PG13
Words: 7400
Spoilers: Up to The Incident
Summary: It starts and ends with a prophecy, but there’s really nothing divine about the mess Charles and Eloise made over the course of sixty-five years. In this final part, Eloise discovers if Daniel was able to change the past. Many thanks to angeldylan628 for being a great beta!
Part I: The Prelude & The Coronation - How Eloise and Charles came to the island.
Part II: The Truce - Why the Hostiles made a truce with Dharma.
Part III: Full Moon - A pregnant Eloise seeks unusual allies in Sawyer and Juliet.
Part IV: Uninvited Guests - Ben and Daniel’s arrivals in the Others’s camp change everything.
Part V: Magnum Opus - Parenting as a form of Course Correction
Part 6 - Homecoming (2003)
From the outside, Warneford Hospital looked like a nineteenth century country manor, except where a lavish garden should be, an asphalt parking lot dominated. The taxi let Eloise off by a row of ambulances. A lone man leaned against one of the columns marking the entrance. He was smoking, or rather gripping a cigarette between two shaky fingers that appeared not to have the strength to reach his lips. His glazed eyes saw right through her. As she brushed by, Eloise was surprised to note he wore a stethoscope around his neck; she had presumed he was a resident. If the staff appeared so worn and fragile, Eloise shuddered to think in what condition she would find her son.
Inside, Warneford had none of the bustle found in a regular hospital. Silence reigned the halls, and a bevy of closed doors suggested patients were not meant to be seen or heard, and were doing a splendid job at that. A receptionist handed Eloise a visitor’s pass and told her Dr. Faraday could be found in room 108.
Since the only official diagnosis given to her for Daniel’s condition had been “exhaustion”, Eloise expected to find her son lying down. Instead she discovered room 108 was the library, and found him sitting in an armchair by the window, reading. The sunlight shone in, lighting his pale features, and giving him a healthy glow. The only initial signs that Eloise had not stumbled upon him at home were the IV in his arm and the blanket on his lap. In a library, the hospital’s quiet did not seem so odd. Around Daniel, other patients read or at least looked at the books and magazines in front on them. Still, it was unnerving to see Daniel so still.
Normally a visit with her son was akin to watching a juggler try out a new act. While Eloise would wait for the tea he promised, Daniel would dart about his flat, searching for an article buried under a pile of paperwork, feeding his collection of rodents, checking his e-mail, recording a calculation whose sum suddenly came to him, texting that assistant girl, sorting the clean from the dirty clothes housed in a pile by his bed, and stopping every so often to add a comment to a student’s paper. Then the tea would be in her hands, and a variation on the routine would start all over again. She assumed this balancing act was because his body needed to keep as brisk a pace as his mind, and he was surprisingly graceful in his movements.
Now he sat a little slumped, brow furrowed, completely engrossed in his book, which Eloise was disturbed to note was a children’s story. He didn’t look up as she approached.
“Hello Daniel.”
Daniel looked to her with faint recognition, the way one saw strangers on the tube and could know just a little about their lives by the way they carried themselves; perhaps that’s how patients regarded each other at Warneford too, she thought, eying the other residents. But there was no true knowing in his gaze, none of the usual eager tenderness he showed when seeing her or the more recent flashes of resentment he thought he hid from her.
She sank into the empty chair across from him. “Daniel, do you know who I am?”
His furrow intensified, along with the frustrated stare. Eloise was immediately reminded of a time when she had once looked upon her son and saw no one but an intruder.
‘I’m your mother.”
“Did….” Daniel wet his lips before he spoke again. He held up the book. “Did you read me this when I was young?”
Eloise could barely take her eyes off Daniel, but she glanced at the book in his hands. Pictured on the cover was a pigtailed girl holding a pig. It didn’t look like anything she would have read to him, even before, when they did read books just for fun.
“Charlotte’s Web? I don’t think so.” She swallowed. “Is it a good book?” She spoke carefully, like one might do to a frightened child or invalid, and she guessed Daniel was both right now.
“I don’t know,” he said, laying the paperback on his lap. Then Daniel clutched it again because it appeared he didn’t like to leave his hands empty. “Did they tell you what happened?”
“I got a call from the Vice-Chancellor,” she stated, not knowing if it would be wise to bring up Daniel’s dismissal from Oxford or the girl. Perhaps the less he remembered the better. As it was, her vague remark conjured up a look of shame. Daniel’s eyes fluttered from her to the ceiling and back to her, and with that gesture came some recognition of who she was.
He thumb tapped the space between his eyebrows. “I knew better.”
“What’s done is done,” she said, trying to sound chipper, but Daniel’s wounded look gave her pause. Here he was thinking the worst had happened, however she knew this was merely a cool breeze in the face of a coming hurricane. “All great scientific leaps require risk. For Oxford not to realize that is their great loss. We’ll get you well again, and then you can continue your work elsewhere.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
Eloise brushed off this remark. She saw healing his confidence would be just as great a problem as healing his mind. “I have an appointment with your doctors later.”
For the first time since she had arrived, Daniel’s face lit up with what could only be described as life. He leaned forward and clasped each of her forearms. “They won’t let me see her, but you could make it happen.”
Eloise pretended she didn’t know what he meant. “Who?”
“I need to see Theresa.”
“I don’t think that’s possible, not now.”
If Eloise had thought that woman had been a distraction for Daniel in the past, the potential now had tripled. From what she had heard, Theresa was at a hospital in Hampstead where she was being treated for radiation poisoning, which apparently was the least of her problems. The poor girl had minimal brain activity, and would most likely spend the rest of her life in a facility where there was no need for libraries, only beds.
“Please mother, I need to see her. I could help her.”
She did not doubt everything Daniel said was correct, but she could not let Theresa become his next research project. She had gone too far not to see this through to the end.
“Her family has requested there be no contact. Naturally they are very upset with you right now,” she lied and watched Daniel shrivel with grief before her very eyes. The chair, his robe, and even his blanket dwarfed him, and the silly book slid from his hands to the floor. “We’re lucky the Spencer family is not suing you.”
Daniel stared at the ceiling, blinking rapidly. Her eyes darted to the nearest exit, wondering if it would be easier to leave him on the brink or witness him breakdown. But Daniel didn’t cry, and instead a strange calm came over him, and he smiled dreamily at her. “I was swimming in the ocean.”
“I’m sorry?”
“In the lab, I went forward. Theresa went back, but I went forward.”
Eloise leaned in. It was her turn to place her hands on Daniel’s. “To when?”
“The future, not too far away from now, I guess.”
Eloise tried to swallow but her throat had closed. “Were you on an island?”
“Maybe? The water was so warm.”
Excitement tingled just out of her reach. An apex was ahead, the point of no return. She even knew the near date when it would happen. According to the version of Daniel’s journal that belonged to her, eighteen months from now, he would board a search and rescue freighter. Of course, his current predicament threw that timeline into question. Was this her sign to stop pushing him? Or was the incident at Oxford and his subsequent memory loss only part of the necessary equation?
Regardless, it was coming close to the time where she might have to stop everything. As easily as she had steered him on a course and fought to keep him on the proper path, she could still ensure he did not reach his destination. When she choose to follow Richard’s advice, Eloise had always promised herself that if Daniel did not appear to have anymore answers than he did in 1977, then she would just prevent him from ever having a means to step foot on the island.
“Did you see other people in your travelling?” Eloise thought of his first companions, the Chinese man and the redheaded woman.
He rubbed his eyes. “You were on the beach, watching me.”
“I was there?” That was unexpected. She had not realized she might be the one to lead him back home so directly. There had been no mention of her presence in his journal entries about the freighter trip. Was this a sign the course had been changed or merely another part of the story unknown to her? “Me, as I appear now?”
He cocked his head and looked at her; she could almost feel him take in her silver hair and spotted hands. “That’s how I was sure I went forward.” Then he hesitated; his next words seem to hang in his mouth, and she thought perhaps the conversation had grown too much for him.
“Daniel, it’s all right.”
“You were with a man. He called me, ‘Son’.” He said this so matter of fact, that Eloise did not expect such a direct follow-up. “My father is alive, isn’t he?”
This was the question she had never known how to respond to. For a moment Eloise tried to picture what Daniel had seen, this strange idea of a family unit. All she could imagine was a tree that sprouted several broken branches. To speak in Daniel’s terms, Charles was a variable she had no way of controlling. Yes, he had been helpful in recent years by funding Daniel’s research and had abided by her terms to keep his distance, but she was certain she couldn’t trust Charles to always put Daniel’s interests first. But it was more than that, she had to admit. A part of her just didn’t want to share Daniel with anyone. From the moment she first felt the life inside her, to the moment she snuffed it out without a thought, he was hers, and hers alone, and she meant to have him as long as she could, all to herself.
Her lack of an immediate response seemed to be an answer enough for Daniel. He closed his eyes, shutting her out. She shifted uncomfortably in the too soft chair, torn between wanting to give him an answer and wanting to protect him from all the history that came with his paternity. In the end Daniel saved her from doing anything. When he opened his eyes, they went wide and took far too many seconds to focus. As Daniel took in his surroundings, he asked with some hope, “Are you my doctor?”
“No Daniel, I’m your mother.”
He looked away, embarrassed. His hands twitched in his lap. “My mother is supposed to visit today.”
Eloise knew she should stay, coddle his memory back, but she let her fear of returning to the subject of fathers override her duty. She decided to take the opportunity to leave, so she stood, smoothing her skirt. “I’ll come back later, when you’re feeling better.”
He did not appear to hear her words. All his attention had gone to the needle stuck in the back of his hand. He picked at the tape holding it in place and scratched around it. His distraction seemed almost a deliberate avoidance of her. She scrutinized his innocence, wondering if perhaps his latest lapse was an act to give them both a reason not to consider the question he had left hanging. Eloise quickly dismissed this assessment. Unlike his parents, Daniel was not very adept at deception. Plus that vague hollow look he had worn when she arrived had returned. She was almost tempted to mention Theresa and see if that would bring any spark back to him.
“Well now,” Eloise fiddled with her purse strap, noticing her fidgeting matched Daniel’s, and she was compelled to return him to stillness before she left. Eloise bent down and picked up the storybook he had been enjoying when she came in. She placed it in his chilled hands, giving him something tangible to hold. He accepted the book, but regarded it the same way he did her, like it was foreign to him. She opened it to a random page. “Why don’t you find your place, and finish your story. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Then she left, forcing herself to walk and not run or rather scurry away. His voice, all quivers and queries, stopped her.
“Are you going to take me home?”
Eloise swallowed hard and turned around. She offered him the brightest smile possible. “That was the idea all along.”
x x x
2008
Desmond Hume was a lucky man. Certainly one could produce a long list of examples, including his recent hospitalization, to argue the exact opposite. After all, one might not normally consider his staring role in frequent bouts of imprisonment and brawls, shipwrecks, and moments where his mind took flight backward and forward as being particularly blessed events. Eloise disagreed, and she thought Desmond might also view his continued existence after each of these disasters, not to mention his own wilful lack of common sense, as a testament to his good fortune. In addition to mere survival (or perhaps the secret to it), he also managed to remained beloved. Really, he was something to marvel and envy, which is why Eloise thought nothing of calling on the Hume family once more.
On the other hand, Charles was a reluctant companion of the highest order. Not even the idea of seeing his daughter and grandson could wipe away the permanent grimness that lined his face. For a good five minutes, he sat in the parked car with his hands locked on the steering wheel; his gaze sat straight ahead, giving all the concentration one might if they were navigating a particularly steep mountain road in a snowstorm.
“Might I remind you, this was your idea?” Eloise stated, hoping that a voice full of accusation might bait him into moving. It didn’t work, and Charles remained steeped with inaction.
Enough was enough. There was no time to placate him with reassurances. Flight 316 had been missing for twenty-four hours. Forgetting for a moment that thirty years separated them, that meant three days from now, Shephard and Austen would guide Daniel to the hostile’s camp. Three days from now, she would kill Daniel. It appeared nothing she had done over the course of his life had prevented that terrible act from occurring. And now Desmond Hume was their last hope, and when it came to back-up plans, it was one of Charles’s poorest. Desmond may be lucky, but reliable, he was not.
“Are you coming?” she asked, reaching for the door handle. Once again, Charles made no movement to join her or even acknowledge their destination. So with a weighty sigh, she exited the vehicle alone.
In downtown Los Angeles, the weather had been muggy; here at the marina it was several degrees cooler. A strong wind caught her silk scarf and sent it flying off her shoulders and across the parking lot like an overgrown butterfly. Eloise felt she should give chase, after all it had been a gift from Daniel, but she found herself content to let it go, or was rather too tired to collect it. She turned toward the dock, when she heard Charles’s door close. Suddenly he was beside her, scarf in hand. She accepted his mute chivalry without word, and together they walked side by side down the plank steps, and through the labyrinth of boats until they came to Our Mutual Friend.
Eloise’s first impression was that boats were very poor places to raise a child. She understood the challenging mechanics of sailing, and believed it would be an incredible nuisance to mind a child amid jiggers and sails and stormy seas. And certainly two pairs of eyes were not enough to ensure a small body did not fall overboard, not to mention guard against a cold or flu finding the boy miles away from medical care. Of course, it was merely an observation, not a criticism, as she knew how unfair it would be for her to offer parenting advice to anyone.
Charles cleared his throat. “It doesn’t appear they’re home.”
The deck was deserted and no lights came from below. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re asleep. Desmond was just released today, and neither Penelope nor the boy could have got much rest since the shooting.” She saw relief in Charles’s face and knew her comment would provoke him to suggest they return later. “Oh, like they’d be any happier to see us if we didn’t interrupted naptime. Come on.”
Eloise was not sure if there was any etiquette to announcing one’s presence before boarding a boat. They did not come equipped with doorbells or knockers. So she simply hoisted herself up the stairs and onto the deck. The shuffle behind her suggested Charles had followed suit.
“Hello?” Her voice came out not much above a whisper, which suggested Charles was not the only reluctant visitor at heart. Still, her call provoked some notice and a few seconds later a mop of curls appeared from below followed by a sweet face. She could hear Charles intake of air as his grandson appeared. After the dramatic events little Charlie must have witnessed in the last few days, Eloise was not surprised the boy appeared nonplussed by the strangers’ appearances. His only reaction was to stick his thumb in his mouth and slump a little against the steps.
Charles found his voice, and uttered the words he had wanted to for years. “Is your mummy home?”
“Charlie, come back down!"
Charles words fell on top of his daughter’s, which Eloise noted were edged with delicate panic. Presumably they had been spotted from the docks, and Charlie had ruined his parents’ plan to hide. Penelope appeared, took Charlie by the hand, and stopped short when she saw the intruders. It was Eloise’s turn to be surprised when the woman’s only response to seeing them was relief.
“Please, I need your help,” Penelope pleaded.
Charles was at his daughter’s side in an instant, and Eloise followed the three of them below deck. There was no time to process the unexpected invite, except to pass the thought that something seriously wrong must have happened to allow it. This idea bloomed when they came to the bedroom to find Desmond slumped against the floor. He lay on his side, eyes open, breathing shallowly, but his state could not be called conscious. His lips moved, yet no sound was being made, and his eyes flickered like they were in REM sleep. His wounded arm lolled in a sling, and someone had put a pillow under his head. Eloise noted the white pillowcase was dotted with spots of red, as was the cloth in Penelope’s hands.
“What happened? Did Linus return?” Charles spoke with an urgency she had not heard since the island.
Penelope put Charlie down in his crib and went to her husband’s side. She gently dabbed Desmond’s bloody nose with the cloth. She looked up to them with expectation. She did not look like the type to wring her hands easily, but she did just that. “Do you know what’s happening to him?”
Eloise and Charles exchanged fruitless looks. “How long has he been like this?” Charles asked.
“He’s been in and out for about thirty minutes. At first I thought he was sleepwalking, but-” She stopped speaking as she noticed her husband’s attention shifted. She touched his temple gingerly. “Des, are you back?”
He raised his head roughly an inch off the pillow and locked his eyes on his wife’s. “Penny?”
“Yes, I’m here. You’re here. You’re safe.”
Desmond found the energy to lift his head further. “Charlie?”
“Charlie’s here too. See he’s in his bed.” Desmond lay down again, and closed his eyes. Penny’s voice rang shrill. “Stay with me! Stay with us!”
His eyed fluttered open again. “I’m here.” He took several deep breathes, as did Penelope. “I think it’s over.”
Penelope cupped his face, drawing her nose to his. She said tightly through gritted teeth, “Don’t ever do that again!”
“I’m sorry, Pen. I had to.”
She stroked his hair, mixing her worry with affection. “I know, I know.”
They kissed, and Eloise squirmed under the intimacy. Suddenly her choice to be here felt very wrong. Lucky or not, this little family did not deserve further intrusion. Perhaps it was best that she and Charles slipped away, leaving their visit only a fragment of Desmond’s apparent madness.
Penelope tucked her hands under Desmond’s good shoulder, drawing him up. Charles went to help her, but she blocked her father and did it herself. When she had positioned Desmond on their bed, sitting up against the pillows, she stated, “They’re here Des, just like you said they would be.”
“I have a message for you,” Desmond wheezed, as he gave his nose a final wipe. He drank water from a glass on the bedside. Penny held up a bottle of pills, but he waved them away. “I’m fine, love.”
“Des, you don’t have to do this now. They can come back.” Penny eyed her father with deep suspicion. Even though Charlie was playing quietly in his crib, she picked him up and held him close. He squirmed in her hold; Eloise saw the Penelope needed to her arms to be an extra layer of protection between her son and her uninvited guests.
“You have a message for us?” Charles asked.
Desmond nodded. “From your son.”
Those words forced Charles into the furthest corner of the room, where he sought comfort from the walls. Eloise decided she needed to sit, and seeing the only place to do so was the floor or the bed, perched as near the edge of the bed she could.
“How is that possible?” Eloise asked.
“It happened back when I was on the freighter, but I only remember it now because for Daniel it just happened now.”
Eloise and Charles exchanged looks. It was almost too much to hope for. They were here today, not to ask Desmond to go back to the island, not literally. They had planned to ask him to go with them to The Lamp Post and see if Eloise could trigger an episode that would send Desmond’s consciousness back to 1977. If he made it, he was to tell Daniel to stay far away from the hostiles. Since as far as they knew, Desmond had never been on the island in that time, it seemed fairly improbable. A mind couldn’t be where a body hadn’t, but Desmond seemed to already be an anomaly, and as Charles had said, “We’re out of options.” Now it appeared Daniel was one step ahead of them.
“What did he say?”
“He said a lot of things.” Desmond regarded them with sternness, but you could also see he was excited to share what had happened. “I’m supposed to tell you right away that you are only to listen and not to bother asking me questions because I couldn’t possible explain how this all worked, and he was right. He lost me quite soon after he said, ‘Hello Desmond.’”
Impatience boiled inside her. Eloise’s wanted to tell him to get on with it, however she was sure Daniel had also given instructions that she was to bite her tongue and mind her manners.
“Then, he explained that he was not the Daniel from the Kahana, but the Daniel from Ann Arbour, if that makes sense to you. He was there to pass on a message to his parents.”
If Eloise cared to examine Penelope’s reaction here, she imagined she would have added shock to her misgiving, but the woman did not interrupt to clarify any family tree designs, and Eloise respected that. “Go on,” she urged.
Desmond spoke directly to Eloise. “He said he understood why you did it, and why you tried to undo it. He wanted me to tell you it’s okay. You did your best. He forgives you, and he loves you.”
And he loves you. Daniel had always been very generous with his expressions of love. As a boy, his “I love yous” had tumbled out frequently, if at non-traditional moments, such as in the middle of supper or after completing his Saturday afternoon chores. Even when his world grew busier, and he grew shyer, she would get letters home that ended with a reminder of his love. Even near the end, when there grew to be a distance between then over petty things like her dislike for Theresa, he would send her little gifts, like the scarf she wore now. Little did he know that every time he said that, her betrayal of him carved those three little words into her chest with a dull knife.
She glanced at Charles, who had never heard those words. Even though they were not meant for him, he seemed similarly affected. Eloise composed herself and asked Desmond, “Is that it?”
He shook his head. “No, there is much more. He also expressed his thanks. He said because of how you pushed him, he is pretty sure he had found a way to change what happened.”
Eloise gasped. “Oh my god!” She was not sure if she said that or merely yelped. This time she could not look at Charles at all.
“But…” Desmond rushed to add. “You are not to be upset about the choice he made.”
Charles stepped from the shadows and took over asking the questions. “What choice?”
Desmond frowned and looked down, troubled and weary. Fury rose in Eloise. Don’t lose your nerve now Hume, she thought and it sounded like a growl. Just get on with it. Seeing Desmond waning, Penny came to him. She released Charlie onto the bed and he toddled over to his father, and burrowed himself in the nook of Desmond’s good arm. This seemed to revive Desmond a little and he continued.
“He said things were going to change, but not for him. He couldn’t risk moving too much around, but he was certain he found a way to save Charlotte.”
This time Eloise could not restrain her anger. “Charlotte? Who’s Charlotte?” She looked to all three adults, demanding an answer, but they looked as perplexed as she did. This was not happening. Daniel could not have thrown away everything on some girl no one knew.
Desmond explained as best he could. “All Daniel said was that Charlotte is the woman he loved.”
Eloise looked to Charles for support, but all she found was placid admiration. It would be just like him not to appreciate what was happening here. Eloise returned her pointed state to Desmond, “Theresa, you mean Theresa?”
“No, I’m sure he said Charlotte, Charlotte Lewis. He said she came to the island with him and if his father did not remember her as the anthropologist he hired for the Kahana, then that meant his plan had worked for sure.”
Charles unfolded his arms and rubbed his chin. “I didn’t hire any anthropologist, and the only woman on my team was Dorrit. I don’t know anyone called Charlotte or Lewis.”
“So he did it. He saved her?” Desmond asked.
Charles looked flummoxed. “I suppose.” He turned to Eloise. “Wasn’t there a Lewis family among Dharma in the 70s, the one with all the little ginger haired girls. Is that who he means?”
Penelope spoke for the first time in ages. “That’s strange. I went to school with a Charlotte Lewis. She studied Asian languages, and the last I heard she was teaching Korean at some school in Germany. I wonder if it is-“
Eloise could not take one more moment of this calm debate. “For Christ sake! Shut up, every one of you.” Everyone’s head swivelled to her. They all looked to her with a mixture of pity and curiosity, even the boy did. She could not stay in this space any longer. She picked herself off the bed, and fled the room. The fresh air was just as stifling outside, and she hurried off the boat, nearly tripping down the stairs. Once at the car, she considered just driving away and leaving Charles, however at that moment she could not even comprehend how a car worked. So she threw herself into the passenger seat and locked the doors.
The raised and simultaneously dashed hope was too much to process. Disappointment and rage came out in a wave of trembles. Her body shook so hard, the car moved a little under her. It almost felt like she was truly feeling Daniel’s death for the first time, and if possible, it felt even more pointless than ever before. He had given up everything for some woman. Not only had he sacrificed himself, he allowed his mother to live with having killed him.
She caught herself on that last thought. Had she done all this to save Daniel or to save herself from the burden? Were they mutually exclusive? And how could he say he loved her when he now knew what she had done? Eloise let these thoughts stir inside her and welcomed the disturbance. This was never going to be over for her, and that was something she would finally have to face.
It could have minutes or hours later when Charles appeared; she had lost all concept of time. He dropped himself in the driver’s seat, and did not speak or even acknowledge her presence. He put the key in the ignition and left the marina. Just before they hit the exit for the expressway, he turned on the heat. After a few minutes her trembles stopped.
Finally she could not take the silence anymore than she could the earlier speculation. “Don’t you have anything to say?”
“I was thinking about how much you and Daniel are alike.”
Eloise huffed. “You never knew Daniel.”
“Do you remember when you foolishly gave away half the island because you missed me?”
For a moment Eloise had no idea what he referred to and then recalled his imprisonment and her idea for a truce with Dharma. “I saved your life.”
“And was it worth it?”
She huffed again. He didn’t want an answer to that. If she had let Charles die, Dharma would have been vanquished. Most likely she would still be on the island and there would never have been a torturous middle chapter involving a boy who could break your heart with his forgiveness.
Finally she replied, “If anything, Daniel’s delusions of grandeur have to come from you.”
That brought what could count as a smile to Charles’s lips. “I’ll take what I can get.”
Eloise looked out the window at the fleet of cars racing beside them. The traffic never stopped in Los Angeles. Everyone always had somewhere to go. She only noticed this now because for the first time in her life, Eloise had nowhere to go.
Of course Charles took the opportunity to read her mind. “Are you up for a trip?” She raised an eyebrow. “You missed the end of Daniel’s message.” She raised her eyebrow further. “Just before the incident at Oxford, he travelled forward. Did he ever tell you this?”
Eloise recalled Daniel’s dreamy voice at the hospital when recounting his swim in the ocean. She had forgotten that was a part of all this and how he claimed she had been there to watch him, as was the man he thought was his father. “Yes.”
‘He told Desmond the date for that was six weeks from now.”
“On the island?”
Charles nodded. “Do you know where it would be then?”
“I could…but Charles, we would not be welcome.”
“But we were there. He saw it.”
“I don’t know.”
“We wouldn’t be there to interfere with whatever Richard has going on now. We would just be there for Daniel. I think the island owes us that.”
Eloise pulled the scarf off her neck and wrapped it around her hands tight enough to cut off the circulation. “What about your family here?”
“Matilda has preferred me gone than present for many years now. She never forgave me for driving Penny away.”
‘Did you tell your daughter about Daniel?”
“Yes, and it wouldn’t surprise me if right now she’s coming up with some scheme to bring him back. She’s rather good at that.”
Eloise humoured him by not scoffing at that suggestion. Daniel was not stuck in some hatch pressing a button, but she admired the girl’s pluck. Estranged or not, Charles deserved to take some credit for Penelope’s good character. In their case, it worked best when the children turned out to be everything their parents were not.
“What do you say?” he pressed. He sounded not a little desperate for her assistance and that aroused something in her. What a pair they made, she thought.
“Drop me off at The Lamp Post.”
x x x
Six Weeks Later
There’s nothing like a war to welcome you home. Eloise and Charles arrived on the island via the borrowed Our Mutual Friend, but it they might as well have been dropped by helicopter into the jungles of Danang or the beaches of Dieppe. Before they even landed, the clouds of smoke that hovered over the treetops were a sign of great conflict. The nearby gunfire and one very loud explosion did not ruin Eloise’s homecoming. As soon as she set foot on the shore, she felt more grounded than she could ever remember. The warring parties may change and the leader may come and go, but the island stayed the same.
Even the smells were familiar. As they trekked through the tall grass and tangled bush, she took deep gulps of air. A mouldy odour wafted up from underneath their feet. It mingled with the freshness that came with crisp new growth. If they were to go as far as their old camp, they would catch on the breeze all the bounty from the nearby fields - the corn, the berries, and of course, manure. In the old Dharma territory, Eloise knew she would probably still encounter a number of manufactured scents - paint, chocolate cake, gasoline. And then there was the ocean itself, which had dozens different aromas depending on its mood.
Finally, Eloise was overwhelmed by Charles’s proximity and the smells that clung to him. They were mostly from the outside: his new clothes, suitable for the island but clearly from a store, and his cologne, a vestige from his days as a wining and dining CEO. There was even the faint odour of baby powder due to Charles’s spilling of a bottle left behind on the boat by the Humes. Then there were the smells of old Charles, those born of his desires, his eagerness and triumph and sense of place. Although they skirted the fringes of the conflict and were unarmed, Charles walked through the island as he had in the past, like a general in search of a battle.
As they hiked to the east beach, they saw up close and from afar a number of people. From atop the crest of Arcade Peak, they spied LaFleur, still dressed in his Dharma coveralls, arguing with Austen and Shephard. At one point, they nearly stepped on Daniel’s old companion, Chang’s son, and the fat man from Flight 815, who they found hiding under a log. Probably because of their age, Charles and Eloise were dismissed as any type of threat and allowed to continue on, but not before she asked them if they had ever heard of someone named Charlotte. Miles’s response was to roll his eyes and remark that the category for Final Jeopardy today must be weird old women. Meanwhile Hurley asked helpfully if she meant the spider from the book, the actress who played Mrs. Garrett on Facts of Life or the little singer whose voice his mother loved. Their clueless replies were further proof of Daniel’s success.
Near the beach Charles and Eloise came across Richard. He stood as unchanged as the island, speaking in Latin with a woman they didn’t know. He expressed no surprise at seeing them, merely raised his hand in greeting like they had just seen each other at breakfast, or maybe for him, if felt like they had. They continued on their way without another word.
It was almost sunset when they arrived at the east beach. The war had not touched this part of the island. They were alone here, all except a sea turtle digging a nest in the sand.
“Well…” Charles trailed off.
“Well indeed,” she replied, hugging herself.
Charles placed his hands on his hips and took charge. “It’s going to be dark soon, we should gather wood-“
And then it happened. Daniel came striding out of the tree line like he had been waiting all this time for their arrival. He was dressed as he would to teach: dress pants, shirt and tie. His face was painted with wonder, and he stopped to pick up a handful of sand, and let it fall through his fingers.
“I can’t believe this,” Charles said.
“I know.”
Daniel saw them and waved. He jogged over, full of glee; his crooked smile was tripping all over his face. “I did it. It works on people too.”
Eloise unsuccessfully choked back tears. “I’m so proud of you, Daniel.”
His pleasure grew with her praise, and then it fled, as he pondered both her tears and his situation. “When I am? Where am I?”
“It’s 2008.” Charles said. “I believe you’ve come five years forward.”
Daniel took a deep breath and exhaled his amazement. “Wow. How do you know that?”
“You told me, son.”
This answer seemed to satisfy Daniel. He patted his shirt pocket and searched though the ones in his pants. He came up empty handed. “I wish I had thought to bring a pen. I hope I remember this when I go back.”
“You will,” Eloise said. She wanted to touch Daniel and feel that he was really here and yet she did not want to know that too. Even if this was all in her head, it felt so good and right to see him again.
“What are you doing here, mom? Do you end up retiring here or something? Is this Florida?”
“I’m here to say good-bye, Daniel.” Eloise bit her lip. “Do you understand?”
He shook his head. “Will I later?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I see.” A visible shiver went through him. He turned away from them to look at the landscape. “I wonder how much time I have.”
Eloise swallowed, and remembered what he had told her in the hospital all those years ago. “Probably enough for a swim.”
Daniel looked out to the sea. “The ocean always reminds me of Debussy.”
Without giving the idea anymore thought, he walked over to the water, and Charles had to stop her from following. He was right, they could not get too close or say too much. Daniel let the waves ride over his feet, and then walked out of its reach and kicked off his shoes and socks. The shirt and tie were similarly dismissed, followed by the pants, and he left just his shorts. He looked back at them, so slight and pale, and so very happy. “This is going to change everything. Theresa is not going believe it.”
He waved once more, then entered the water. He dove under the first wave that hit him, and Eloise was certain he was not going to surface, but he did. They had the pleasure of watching him paddle around for a good five minutes before a bright yellow light cut across the setting sun and took him from them. She imagined him back in Oxford, lying on the floor of his lab half naked, dripping wet and laughing hysterically. She refused to think of what came next: the memory loss and more. She had to remember him like this, caught in the thrill of discovery, and so very alive.
“It was enough, wasn’t it?” she said. She was trying to convince herself, not Charles.
“It was.”
“That’s more than most people get, isn’t it. Enough?”
“Yes.”
If there was one she knew about Charles, it was that he was rarely tongue tied. To cut the awkwardness of what had just happened, she just talked all the more. “Well, you were saying something about a fire. Let’s see to that. It should be safe enough to sleep here on the beach tonight. Hopefully none of those hooligans has taken the Friend hostage, and then tomorrow we might see if-”
“Ellie…”
The way he said her name, she knew exactly what he was going to propose. “Charles.”
“I’m not going back.”
“Oh, is it that easy?”
“Isn’t it what you want too?” He picked up her hand; his thumb grazed the thin skin stretched over her wrist. “This is our home.”
Eloise left her hand in his, but looked away to the ocean where Daniel had been just minutes ago, and where his pile of clothes still remained. “Your daughter is not going to be pleased. She’ll want her boat back.”
Charles waved away her weak attempt at a roadblock. “Penelope has everything she’ll ever need. Just like I do here, that is, if you’ll stay with me.”
She looked back at him. There was never a time on this island when Eloise had not been with him in some way. There had been Charles, her rival and playmate, and then Charles, her sometimes ally and sometimes lover. Back then he had always been so desperate to be something, a soldier, a leader, a father. And now none of that was available, and he just wanted to be with her. She didn’t know whether to be pleased or insulted.
“I’m too old for island magic and games.” It was a warning for him and her, and anyone else who might be listening.
He picked up her other hand, and kissed both of them. She hated the way he could do that, just make her want him with the barest touch of skin. She hated that he knew that, and that is why he smirked at her right now. “We’ll stay out of that,” he promised.
She rolled her eyes in way that would make Chang’s son jealous. “Unlikely.”
“Then we’ll show them how it’s done properly.”
She could have put up more of a fight, and tested his patience, only to turn the tables on him, and make him beg, but she was not lying when she said she was too old for those games. So she merely said, “Fine.”
“Fine? Just like that?”
“Yes, just like that.”
Charles’s lips found hers, and she allowed his kiss. Meanwhile, she reached up and undid her hair. It scattered wildly, whipping in the wind, like she had never let it be. And with that there was a mutual surrender, one that had been in the making for over sixty years.
x x x
The End.
Author's Note: Thank you for following this series to the end. I so appreciate and cherish the feedback and support from those who left comments and encouraged me along the way.
Characters: Charles/Eloise, Richard, Daniel, Ben, Sawyer, Juliet, Penny, Desmond
Disclaimer: Lost is not mine. Seriously? Seriously.
Rating: PG13
Words: 7400
Spoilers: Up to The Incident
Summary: It starts and ends with a prophecy, but there’s really nothing divine about the mess Charles and Eloise made over the course of sixty-five years. In this final part, Eloise discovers if Daniel was able to change the past. Many thanks to angeldylan628 for being a great beta!
Part I: The Prelude & The Coronation - How Eloise and Charles came to the island.
Part II: The Truce - Why the Hostiles made a truce with Dharma.
Part III: Full Moon - A pregnant Eloise seeks unusual allies in Sawyer and Juliet.
Part IV: Uninvited Guests - Ben and Daniel’s arrivals in the Others’s camp change everything.
Part V: Magnum Opus - Parenting as a form of Course Correction
Part 6 - Homecoming (2003)
From the outside, Warneford Hospital looked like a nineteenth century country manor, except where a lavish garden should be, an asphalt parking lot dominated. The taxi let Eloise off by a row of ambulances. A lone man leaned against one of the columns marking the entrance. He was smoking, or rather gripping a cigarette between two shaky fingers that appeared not to have the strength to reach his lips. His glazed eyes saw right through her. As she brushed by, Eloise was surprised to note he wore a stethoscope around his neck; she had presumed he was a resident. If the staff appeared so worn and fragile, Eloise shuddered to think in what condition she would find her son.
Inside, Warneford had none of the bustle found in a regular hospital. Silence reigned the halls, and a bevy of closed doors suggested patients were not meant to be seen or heard, and were doing a splendid job at that. A receptionist handed Eloise a visitor’s pass and told her Dr. Faraday could be found in room 108.
Since the only official diagnosis given to her for Daniel’s condition had been “exhaustion”, Eloise expected to find her son lying down. Instead she discovered room 108 was the library, and found him sitting in an armchair by the window, reading. The sunlight shone in, lighting his pale features, and giving him a healthy glow. The only initial signs that Eloise had not stumbled upon him at home were the IV in his arm and the blanket on his lap. In a library, the hospital’s quiet did not seem so odd. Around Daniel, other patients read or at least looked at the books and magazines in front on them. Still, it was unnerving to see Daniel so still.
Normally a visit with her son was akin to watching a juggler try out a new act. While Eloise would wait for the tea he promised, Daniel would dart about his flat, searching for an article buried under a pile of paperwork, feeding his collection of rodents, checking his e-mail, recording a calculation whose sum suddenly came to him, texting that assistant girl, sorting the clean from the dirty clothes housed in a pile by his bed, and stopping every so often to add a comment to a student’s paper. Then the tea would be in her hands, and a variation on the routine would start all over again. She assumed this balancing act was because his body needed to keep as brisk a pace as his mind, and he was surprisingly graceful in his movements.
Now he sat a little slumped, brow furrowed, completely engrossed in his book, which Eloise was disturbed to note was a children’s story. He didn’t look up as she approached.
“Hello Daniel.”
Daniel looked to her with faint recognition, the way one saw strangers on the tube and could know just a little about their lives by the way they carried themselves; perhaps that’s how patients regarded each other at Warneford too, she thought, eying the other residents. But there was no true knowing in his gaze, none of the usual eager tenderness he showed when seeing her or the more recent flashes of resentment he thought he hid from her.
She sank into the empty chair across from him. “Daniel, do you know who I am?”
His furrow intensified, along with the frustrated stare. Eloise was immediately reminded of a time when she had once looked upon her son and saw no one but an intruder.
‘I’m your mother.”
“Did….” Daniel wet his lips before he spoke again. He held up the book. “Did you read me this when I was young?”
Eloise could barely take her eyes off Daniel, but she glanced at the book in his hands. Pictured on the cover was a pigtailed girl holding a pig. It didn’t look like anything she would have read to him, even before, when they did read books just for fun.
“Charlotte’s Web? I don’t think so.” She swallowed. “Is it a good book?” She spoke carefully, like one might do to a frightened child or invalid, and she guessed Daniel was both right now.
“I don’t know,” he said, laying the paperback on his lap. Then Daniel clutched it again because it appeared he didn’t like to leave his hands empty. “Did they tell you what happened?”
“I got a call from the Vice-Chancellor,” she stated, not knowing if it would be wise to bring up Daniel’s dismissal from Oxford or the girl. Perhaps the less he remembered the better. As it was, her vague remark conjured up a look of shame. Daniel’s eyes fluttered from her to the ceiling and back to her, and with that gesture came some recognition of who she was.
He thumb tapped the space between his eyebrows. “I knew better.”
“What’s done is done,” she said, trying to sound chipper, but Daniel’s wounded look gave her pause. Here he was thinking the worst had happened, however she knew this was merely a cool breeze in the face of a coming hurricane. “All great scientific leaps require risk. For Oxford not to realize that is their great loss. We’ll get you well again, and then you can continue your work elsewhere.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
Eloise brushed off this remark. She saw healing his confidence would be just as great a problem as healing his mind. “I have an appointment with your doctors later.”
For the first time since she had arrived, Daniel’s face lit up with what could only be described as life. He leaned forward and clasped each of her forearms. “They won’t let me see her, but you could make it happen.”
Eloise pretended she didn’t know what he meant. “Who?”
“I need to see Theresa.”
“I don’t think that’s possible, not now.”
If Eloise had thought that woman had been a distraction for Daniel in the past, the potential now had tripled. From what she had heard, Theresa was at a hospital in Hampstead where she was being treated for radiation poisoning, which apparently was the least of her problems. The poor girl had minimal brain activity, and would most likely spend the rest of her life in a facility where there was no need for libraries, only beds.
“Please mother, I need to see her. I could help her.”
She did not doubt everything Daniel said was correct, but she could not let Theresa become his next research project. She had gone too far not to see this through to the end.
“Her family has requested there be no contact. Naturally they are very upset with you right now,” she lied and watched Daniel shrivel with grief before her very eyes. The chair, his robe, and even his blanket dwarfed him, and the silly book slid from his hands to the floor. “We’re lucky the Spencer family is not suing you.”
Daniel stared at the ceiling, blinking rapidly. Her eyes darted to the nearest exit, wondering if it would be easier to leave him on the brink or witness him breakdown. But Daniel didn’t cry, and instead a strange calm came over him, and he smiled dreamily at her. “I was swimming in the ocean.”
“I’m sorry?”
“In the lab, I went forward. Theresa went back, but I went forward.”
Eloise leaned in. It was her turn to place her hands on Daniel’s. “To when?”
“The future, not too far away from now, I guess.”
Eloise tried to swallow but her throat had closed. “Were you on an island?”
“Maybe? The water was so warm.”
Excitement tingled just out of her reach. An apex was ahead, the point of no return. She even knew the near date when it would happen. According to the version of Daniel’s journal that belonged to her, eighteen months from now, he would board a search and rescue freighter. Of course, his current predicament threw that timeline into question. Was this her sign to stop pushing him? Or was the incident at Oxford and his subsequent memory loss only part of the necessary equation?
Regardless, it was coming close to the time where she might have to stop everything. As easily as she had steered him on a course and fought to keep him on the proper path, she could still ensure he did not reach his destination. When she choose to follow Richard’s advice, Eloise had always promised herself that if Daniel did not appear to have anymore answers than he did in 1977, then she would just prevent him from ever having a means to step foot on the island.
“Did you see other people in your travelling?” Eloise thought of his first companions, the Chinese man and the redheaded woman.
He rubbed his eyes. “You were on the beach, watching me.”
“I was there?” That was unexpected. She had not realized she might be the one to lead him back home so directly. There had been no mention of her presence in his journal entries about the freighter trip. Was this a sign the course had been changed or merely another part of the story unknown to her? “Me, as I appear now?”
He cocked his head and looked at her; she could almost feel him take in her silver hair and spotted hands. “That’s how I was sure I went forward.” Then he hesitated; his next words seem to hang in his mouth, and she thought perhaps the conversation had grown too much for him.
“Daniel, it’s all right.”
“You were with a man. He called me, ‘Son’.” He said this so matter of fact, that Eloise did not expect such a direct follow-up. “My father is alive, isn’t he?”
This was the question she had never known how to respond to. For a moment Eloise tried to picture what Daniel had seen, this strange idea of a family unit. All she could imagine was a tree that sprouted several broken branches. To speak in Daniel’s terms, Charles was a variable she had no way of controlling. Yes, he had been helpful in recent years by funding Daniel’s research and had abided by her terms to keep his distance, but she was certain she couldn’t trust Charles to always put Daniel’s interests first. But it was more than that, she had to admit. A part of her just didn’t want to share Daniel with anyone. From the moment she first felt the life inside her, to the moment she snuffed it out without a thought, he was hers, and hers alone, and she meant to have him as long as she could, all to herself.
Her lack of an immediate response seemed to be an answer enough for Daniel. He closed his eyes, shutting her out. She shifted uncomfortably in the too soft chair, torn between wanting to give him an answer and wanting to protect him from all the history that came with his paternity. In the end Daniel saved her from doing anything. When he opened his eyes, they went wide and took far too many seconds to focus. As Daniel took in his surroundings, he asked with some hope, “Are you my doctor?”
“No Daniel, I’m your mother.”
He looked away, embarrassed. His hands twitched in his lap. “My mother is supposed to visit today.”
Eloise knew she should stay, coddle his memory back, but she let her fear of returning to the subject of fathers override her duty. She decided to take the opportunity to leave, so she stood, smoothing her skirt. “I’ll come back later, when you’re feeling better.”
He did not appear to hear her words. All his attention had gone to the needle stuck in the back of his hand. He picked at the tape holding it in place and scratched around it. His distraction seemed almost a deliberate avoidance of her. She scrutinized his innocence, wondering if perhaps his latest lapse was an act to give them both a reason not to consider the question he had left hanging. Eloise quickly dismissed this assessment. Unlike his parents, Daniel was not very adept at deception. Plus that vague hollow look he had worn when she arrived had returned. She was almost tempted to mention Theresa and see if that would bring any spark back to him.
“Well now,” Eloise fiddled with her purse strap, noticing her fidgeting matched Daniel’s, and she was compelled to return him to stillness before she left. Eloise bent down and picked up the storybook he had been enjoying when she came in. She placed it in his chilled hands, giving him something tangible to hold. He accepted the book, but regarded it the same way he did her, like it was foreign to him. She opened it to a random page. “Why don’t you find your place, and finish your story. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Then she left, forcing herself to walk and not run or rather scurry away. His voice, all quivers and queries, stopped her.
“Are you going to take me home?”
Eloise swallowed hard and turned around. She offered him the brightest smile possible. “That was the idea all along.”
x x x
2008
Desmond Hume was a lucky man. Certainly one could produce a long list of examples, including his recent hospitalization, to argue the exact opposite. After all, one might not normally consider his staring role in frequent bouts of imprisonment and brawls, shipwrecks, and moments where his mind took flight backward and forward as being particularly blessed events. Eloise disagreed, and she thought Desmond might also view his continued existence after each of these disasters, not to mention his own wilful lack of common sense, as a testament to his good fortune. In addition to mere survival (or perhaps the secret to it), he also managed to remained beloved. Really, he was something to marvel and envy, which is why Eloise thought nothing of calling on the Hume family once more.
On the other hand, Charles was a reluctant companion of the highest order. Not even the idea of seeing his daughter and grandson could wipe away the permanent grimness that lined his face. For a good five minutes, he sat in the parked car with his hands locked on the steering wheel; his gaze sat straight ahead, giving all the concentration one might if they were navigating a particularly steep mountain road in a snowstorm.
“Might I remind you, this was your idea?” Eloise stated, hoping that a voice full of accusation might bait him into moving. It didn’t work, and Charles remained steeped with inaction.
Enough was enough. There was no time to placate him with reassurances. Flight 316 had been missing for twenty-four hours. Forgetting for a moment that thirty years separated them, that meant three days from now, Shephard and Austen would guide Daniel to the hostile’s camp. Three days from now, she would kill Daniel. It appeared nothing she had done over the course of his life had prevented that terrible act from occurring. And now Desmond Hume was their last hope, and when it came to back-up plans, it was one of Charles’s poorest. Desmond may be lucky, but reliable, he was not.
“Are you coming?” she asked, reaching for the door handle. Once again, Charles made no movement to join her or even acknowledge their destination. So with a weighty sigh, she exited the vehicle alone.
In downtown Los Angeles, the weather had been muggy; here at the marina it was several degrees cooler. A strong wind caught her silk scarf and sent it flying off her shoulders and across the parking lot like an overgrown butterfly. Eloise felt she should give chase, after all it had been a gift from Daniel, but she found herself content to let it go, or was rather too tired to collect it. She turned toward the dock, when she heard Charles’s door close. Suddenly he was beside her, scarf in hand. She accepted his mute chivalry without word, and together they walked side by side down the plank steps, and through the labyrinth of boats until they came to Our Mutual Friend.
Eloise’s first impression was that boats were very poor places to raise a child. She understood the challenging mechanics of sailing, and believed it would be an incredible nuisance to mind a child amid jiggers and sails and stormy seas. And certainly two pairs of eyes were not enough to ensure a small body did not fall overboard, not to mention guard against a cold or flu finding the boy miles away from medical care. Of course, it was merely an observation, not a criticism, as she knew how unfair it would be for her to offer parenting advice to anyone.
Charles cleared his throat. “It doesn’t appear they’re home.”
The deck was deserted and no lights came from below. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re asleep. Desmond was just released today, and neither Penelope nor the boy could have got much rest since the shooting.” She saw relief in Charles’s face and knew her comment would provoke him to suggest they return later. “Oh, like they’d be any happier to see us if we didn’t interrupted naptime. Come on.”
Eloise was not sure if there was any etiquette to announcing one’s presence before boarding a boat. They did not come equipped with doorbells or knockers. So she simply hoisted herself up the stairs and onto the deck. The shuffle behind her suggested Charles had followed suit.
“Hello?” Her voice came out not much above a whisper, which suggested Charles was not the only reluctant visitor at heart. Still, her call provoked some notice and a few seconds later a mop of curls appeared from below followed by a sweet face. She could hear Charles intake of air as his grandson appeared. After the dramatic events little Charlie must have witnessed in the last few days, Eloise was not surprised the boy appeared nonplussed by the strangers’ appearances. His only reaction was to stick his thumb in his mouth and slump a little against the steps.
Charles found his voice, and uttered the words he had wanted to for years. “Is your mummy home?”
“Charlie, come back down!"
Charles words fell on top of his daughter’s, which Eloise noted were edged with delicate panic. Presumably they had been spotted from the docks, and Charlie had ruined his parents’ plan to hide. Penelope appeared, took Charlie by the hand, and stopped short when she saw the intruders. It was Eloise’s turn to be surprised when the woman’s only response to seeing them was relief.
“Please, I need your help,” Penelope pleaded.
Charles was at his daughter’s side in an instant, and Eloise followed the three of them below deck. There was no time to process the unexpected invite, except to pass the thought that something seriously wrong must have happened to allow it. This idea bloomed when they came to the bedroom to find Desmond slumped against the floor. He lay on his side, eyes open, breathing shallowly, but his state could not be called conscious. His lips moved, yet no sound was being made, and his eyes flickered like they were in REM sleep. His wounded arm lolled in a sling, and someone had put a pillow under his head. Eloise noted the white pillowcase was dotted with spots of red, as was the cloth in Penelope’s hands.
“What happened? Did Linus return?” Charles spoke with an urgency she had not heard since the island.
Penelope put Charlie down in his crib and went to her husband’s side. She gently dabbed Desmond’s bloody nose with the cloth. She looked up to them with expectation. She did not look like the type to wring her hands easily, but she did just that. “Do you know what’s happening to him?”
Eloise and Charles exchanged fruitless looks. “How long has he been like this?” Charles asked.
“He’s been in and out for about thirty minutes. At first I thought he was sleepwalking, but-” She stopped speaking as she noticed her husband’s attention shifted. She touched his temple gingerly. “Des, are you back?”
He raised his head roughly an inch off the pillow and locked his eyes on his wife’s. “Penny?”
“Yes, I’m here. You’re here. You’re safe.”
Desmond found the energy to lift his head further. “Charlie?”
“Charlie’s here too. See he’s in his bed.” Desmond lay down again, and closed his eyes. Penny’s voice rang shrill. “Stay with me! Stay with us!”
His eyed fluttered open again. “I’m here.” He took several deep breathes, as did Penelope. “I think it’s over.”
Penelope cupped his face, drawing her nose to his. She said tightly through gritted teeth, “Don’t ever do that again!”
“I’m sorry, Pen. I had to.”
She stroked his hair, mixing her worry with affection. “I know, I know.”
They kissed, and Eloise squirmed under the intimacy. Suddenly her choice to be here felt very wrong. Lucky or not, this little family did not deserve further intrusion. Perhaps it was best that she and Charles slipped away, leaving their visit only a fragment of Desmond’s apparent madness.
Penelope tucked her hands under Desmond’s good shoulder, drawing him up. Charles went to help her, but she blocked her father and did it herself. When she had positioned Desmond on their bed, sitting up against the pillows, she stated, “They’re here Des, just like you said they would be.”
“I have a message for you,” Desmond wheezed, as he gave his nose a final wipe. He drank water from a glass on the bedside. Penny held up a bottle of pills, but he waved them away. “I’m fine, love.”
“Des, you don’t have to do this now. They can come back.” Penny eyed her father with deep suspicion. Even though Charlie was playing quietly in his crib, she picked him up and held him close. He squirmed in her hold; Eloise saw the Penelope needed to her arms to be an extra layer of protection between her son and her uninvited guests.
“You have a message for us?” Charles asked.
Desmond nodded. “From your son.”
Those words forced Charles into the furthest corner of the room, where he sought comfort from the walls. Eloise decided she needed to sit, and seeing the only place to do so was the floor or the bed, perched as near the edge of the bed she could.
“How is that possible?” Eloise asked.
“It happened back when I was on the freighter, but I only remember it now because for Daniel it just happened now.”
Eloise and Charles exchanged looks. It was almost too much to hope for. They were here today, not to ask Desmond to go back to the island, not literally. They had planned to ask him to go with them to The Lamp Post and see if Eloise could trigger an episode that would send Desmond’s consciousness back to 1977. If he made it, he was to tell Daniel to stay far away from the hostiles. Since as far as they knew, Desmond had never been on the island in that time, it seemed fairly improbable. A mind couldn’t be where a body hadn’t, but Desmond seemed to already be an anomaly, and as Charles had said, “We’re out of options.” Now it appeared Daniel was one step ahead of them.
“What did he say?”
“He said a lot of things.” Desmond regarded them with sternness, but you could also see he was excited to share what had happened. “I’m supposed to tell you right away that you are only to listen and not to bother asking me questions because I couldn’t possible explain how this all worked, and he was right. He lost me quite soon after he said, ‘Hello Desmond.’”
Impatience boiled inside her. Eloise’s wanted to tell him to get on with it, however she was sure Daniel had also given instructions that she was to bite her tongue and mind her manners.
“Then, he explained that he was not the Daniel from the Kahana, but the Daniel from Ann Arbour, if that makes sense to you. He was there to pass on a message to his parents.”
If Eloise cared to examine Penelope’s reaction here, she imagined she would have added shock to her misgiving, but the woman did not interrupt to clarify any family tree designs, and Eloise respected that. “Go on,” she urged.
Desmond spoke directly to Eloise. “He said he understood why you did it, and why you tried to undo it. He wanted me to tell you it’s okay. You did your best. He forgives you, and he loves you.”
And he loves you. Daniel had always been very generous with his expressions of love. As a boy, his “I love yous” had tumbled out frequently, if at non-traditional moments, such as in the middle of supper or after completing his Saturday afternoon chores. Even when his world grew busier, and he grew shyer, she would get letters home that ended with a reminder of his love. Even near the end, when there grew to be a distance between then over petty things like her dislike for Theresa, he would send her little gifts, like the scarf she wore now. Little did he know that every time he said that, her betrayal of him carved those three little words into her chest with a dull knife.
She glanced at Charles, who had never heard those words. Even though they were not meant for him, he seemed similarly affected. Eloise composed herself and asked Desmond, “Is that it?”
He shook his head. “No, there is much more. He also expressed his thanks. He said because of how you pushed him, he is pretty sure he had found a way to change what happened.”
Eloise gasped. “Oh my god!” She was not sure if she said that or merely yelped. This time she could not look at Charles at all.
“But…” Desmond rushed to add. “You are not to be upset about the choice he made.”
Charles stepped from the shadows and took over asking the questions. “What choice?”
Desmond frowned and looked down, troubled and weary. Fury rose in Eloise. Don’t lose your nerve now Hume, she thought and it sounded like a growl. Just get on with it. Seeing Desmond waning, Penny came to him. She released Charlie onto the bed and he toddled over to his father, and burrowed himself in the nook of Desmond’s good arm. This seemed to revive Desmond a little and he continued.
“He said things were going to change, but not for him. He couldn’t risk moving too much around, but he was certain he found a way to save Charlotte.”
This time Eloise could not restrain her anger. “Charlotte? Who’s Charlotte?” She looked to all three adults, demanding an answer, but they looked as perplexed as she did. This was not happening. Daniel could not have thrown away everything on some girl no one knew.
Desmond explained as best he could. “All Daniel said was that Charlotte is the woman he loved.”
Eloise looked to Charles for support, but all she found was placid admiration. It would be just like him not to appreciate what was happening here. Eloise returned her pointed state to Desmond, “Theresa, you mean Theresa?”
“No, I’m sure he said Charlotte, Charlotte Lewis. He said she came to the island with him and if his father did not remember her as the anthropologist he hired for the Kahana, then that meant his plan had worked for sure.”
Charles unfolded his arms and rubbed his chin. “I didn’t hire any anthropologist, and the only woman on my team was Dorrit. I don’t know anyone called Charlotte or Lewis.”
“So he did it. He saved her?” Desmond asked.
Charles looked flummoxed. “I suppose.” He turned to Eloise. “Wasn’t there a Lewis family among Dharma in the 70s, the one with all the little ginger haired girls. Is that who he means?”
Penelope spoke for the first time in ages. “That’s strange. I went to school with a Charlotte Lewis. She studied Asian languages, and the last I heard she was teaching Korean at some school in Germany. I wonder if it is-“
Eloise could not take one more moment of this calm debate. “For Christ sake! Shut up, every one of you.” Everyone’s head swivelled to her. They all looked to her with a mixture of pity and curiosity, even the boy did. She could not stay in this space any longer. She picked herself off the bed, and fled the room. The fresh air was just as stifling outside, and she hurried off the boat, nearly tripping down the stairs. Once at the car, she considered just driving away and leaving Charles, however at that moment she could not even comprehend how a car worked. So she threw herself into the passenger seat and locked the doors.
The raised and simultaneously dashed hope was too much to process. Disappointment and rage came out in a wave of trembles. Her body shook so hard, the car moved a little under her. It almost felt like she was truly feeling Daniel’s death for the first time, and if possible, it felt even more pointless than ever before. He had given up everything for some woman. Not only had he sacrificed himself, he allowed his mother to live with having killed him.
She caught herself on that last thought. Had she done all this to save Daniel or to save herself from the burden? Were they mutually exclusive? And how could he say he loved her when he now knew what she had done? Eloise let these thoughts stir inside her and welcomed the disturbance. This was never going to be over for her, and that was something she would finally have to face.
It could have minutes or hours later when Charles appeared; she had lost all concept of time. He dropped himself in the driver’s seat, and did not speak or even acknowledge her presence. He put the key in the ignition and left the marina. Just before they hit the exit for the expressway, he turned on the heat. After a few minutes her trembles stopped.
Finally she could not take the silence anymore than she could the earlier speculation. “Don’t you have anything to say?”
“I was thinking about how much you and Daniel are alike.”
Eloise huffed. “You never knew Daniel.”
“Do you remember when you foolishly gave away half the island because you missed me?”
For a moment Eloise had no idea what he referred to and then recalled his imprisonment and her idea for a truce with Dharma. “I saved your life.”
“And was it worth it?”
She huffed again. He didn’t want an answer to that. If she had let Charles die, Dharma would have been vanquished. Most likely she would still be on the island and there would never have been a torturous middle chapter involving a boy who could break your heart with his forgiveness.
Finally she replied, “If anything, Daniel’s delusions of grandeur have to come from you.”
That brought what could count as a smile to Charles’s lips. “I’ll take what I can get.”
Eloise looked out the window at the fleet of cars racing beside them. The traffic never stopped in Los Angeles. Everyone always had somewhere to go. She only noticed this now because for the first time in her life, Eloise had nowhere to go.
Of course Charles took the opportunity to read her mind. “Are you up for a trip?” She raised an eyebrow. “You missed the end of Daniel’s message.” She raised her eyebrow further. “Just before the incident at Oxford, he travelled forward. Did he ever tell you this?”
Eloise recalled Daniel’s dreamy voice at the hospital when recounting his swim in the ocean. She had forgotten that was a part of all this and how he claimed she had been there to watch him, as was the man he thought was his father. “Yes.”
‘He told Desmond the date for that was six weeks from now.”
“On the island?”
Charles nodded. “Do you know where it would be then?”
“I could…but Charles, we would not be welcome.”
“But we were there. He saw it.”
“I don’t know.”
“We wouldn’t be there to interfere with whatever Richard has going on now. We would just be there for Daniel. I think the island owes us that.”
Eloise pulled the scarf off her neck and wrapped it around her hands tight enough to cut off the circulation. “What about your family here?”
“Matilda has preferred me gone than present for many years now. She never forgave me for driving Penny away.”
‘Did you tell your daughter about Daniel?”
“Yes, and it wouldn’t surprise me if right now she’s coming up with some scheme to bring him back. She’s rather good at that.”
Eloise humoured him by not scoffing at that suggestion. Daniel was not stuck in some hatch pressing a button, but she admired the girl’s pluck. Estranged or not, Charles deserved to take some credit for Penelope’s good character. In their case, it worked best when the children turned out to be everything their parents were not.
“What do you say?” he pressed. He sounded not a little desperate for her assistance and that aroused something in her. What a pair they made, she thought.
“Drop me off at The Lamp Post.”
x x x
Six Weeks Later
There’s nothing like a war to welcome you home. Eloise and Charles arrived on the island via the borrowed Our Mutual Friend, but it they might as well have been dropped by helicopter into the jungles of Danang or the beaches of Dieppe. Before they even landed, the clouds of smoke that hovered over the treetops were a sign of great conflict. The nearby gunfire and one very loud explosion did not ruin Eloise’s homecoming. As soon as she set foot on the shore, she felt more grounded than she could ever remember. The warring parties may change and the leader may come and go, but the island stayed the same.
Even the smells were familiar. As they trekked through the tall grass and tangled bush, she took deep gulps of air. A mouldy odour wafted up from underneath their feet. It mingled with the freshness that came with crisp new growth. If they were to go as far as their old camp, they would catch on the breeze all the bounty from the nearby fields - the corn, the berries, and of course, manure. In the old Dharma territory, Eloise knew she would probably still encounter a number of manufactured scents - paint, chocolate cake, gasoline. And then there was the ocean itself, which had dozens different aromas depending on its mood.
Finally, Eloise was overwhelmed by Charles’s proximity and the smells that clung to him. They were mostly from the outside: his new clothes, suitable for the island but clearly from a store, and his cologne, a vestige from his days as a wining and dining CEO. There was even the faint odour of baby powder due to Charles’s spilling of a bottle left behind on the boat by the Humes. Then there were the smells of old Charles, those born of his desires, his eagerness and triumph and sense of place. Although they skirted the fringes of the conflict and were unarmed, Charles walked through the island as he had in the past, like a general in search of a battle.
As they hiked to the east beach, they saw up close and from afar a number of people. From atop the crest of Arcade Peak, they spied LaFleur, still dressed in his Dharma coveralls, arguing with Austen and Shephard. At one point, they nearly stepped on Daniel’s old companion, Chang’s son, and the fat man from Flight 815, who they found hiding under a log. Probably because of their age, Charles and Eloise were dismissed as any type of threat and allowed to continue on, but not before she asked them if they had ever heard of someone named Charlotte. Miles’s response was to roll his eyes and remark that the category for Final Jeopardy today must be weird old women. Meanwhile Hurley asked helpfully if she meant the spider from the book, the actress who played Mrs. Garrett on Facts of Life or the little singer whose voice his mother loved. Their clueless replies were further proof of Daniel’s success.
Near the beach Charles and Eloise came across Richard. He stood as unchanged as the island, speaking in Latin with a woman they didn’t know. He expressed no surprise at seeing them, merely raised his hand in greeting like they had just seen each other at breakfast, or maybe for him, if felt like they had. They continued on their way without another word.
It was almost sunset when they arrived at the east beach. The war had not touched this part of the island. They were alone here, all except a sea turtle digging a nest in the sand.
“Well…” Charles trailed off.
“Well indeed,” she replied, hugging herself.
Charles placed his hands on his hips and took charge. “It’s going to be dark soon, we should gather wood-“
And then it happened. Daniel came striding out of the tree line like he had been waiting all this time for their arrival. He was dressed as he would to teach: dress pants, shirt and tie. His face was painted with wonder, and he stopped to pick up a handful of sand, and let it fall through his fingers.
“I can’t believe this,” Charles said.
“I know.”
Daniel saw them and waved. He jogged over, full of glee; his crooked smile was tripping all over his face. “I did it. It works on people too.”
Eloise unsuccessfully choked back tears. “I’m so proud of you, Daniel.”
His pleasure grew with her praise, and then it fled, as he pondered both her tears and his situation. “When I am? Where am I?”
“It’s 2008.” Charles said. “I believe you’ve come five years forward.”
Daniel took a deep breath and exhaled his amazement. “Wow. How do you know that?”
“You told me, son.”
This answer seemed to satisfy Daniel. He patted his shirt pocket and searched though the ones in his pants. He came up empty handed. “I wish I had thought to bring a pen. I hope I remember this when I go back.”
“You will,” Eloise said. She wanted to touch Daniel and feel that he was really here and yet she did not want to know that too. Even if this was all in her head, it felt so good and right to see him again.
“What are you doing here, mom? Do you end up retiring here or something? Is this Florida?”
“I’m here to say good-bye, Daniel.” Eloise bit her lip. “Do you understand?”
He shook his head. “Will I later?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I see.” A visible shiver went through him. He turned away from them to look at the landscape. “I wonder how much time I have.”
Eloise swallowed, and remembered what he had told her in the hospital all those years ago. “Probably enough for a swim.”
Daniel looked out to the sea. “The ocean always reminds me of Debussy.”
Without giving the idea anymore thought, he walked over to the water, and Charles had to stop her from following. He was right, they could not get too close or say too much. Daniel let the waves ride over his feet, and then walked out of its reach and kicked off his shoes and socks. The shirt and tie were similarly dismissed, followed by the pants, and he left just his shorts. He looked back at them, so slight and pale, and so very happy. “This is going to change everything. Theresa is not going believe it.”
He waved once more, then entered the water. He dove under the first wave that hit him, and Eloise was certain he was not going to surface, but he did. They had the pleasure of watching him paddle around for a good five minutes before a bright yellow light cut across the setting sun and took him from them. She imagined him back in Oxford, lying on the floor of his lab half naked, dripping wet and laughing hysterically. She refused to think of what came next: the memory loss and more. She had to remember him like this, caught in the thrill of discovery, and so very alive.
“It was enough, wasn’t it?” she said. She was trying to convince herself, not Charles.
“It was.”
“That’s more than most people get, isn’t it. Enough?”
“Yes.”
If there was one she knew about Charles, it was that he was rarely tongue tied. To cut the awkwardness of what had just happened, she just talked all the more. “Well, you were saying something about a fire. Let’s see to that. It should be safe enough to sleep here on the beach tonight. Hopefully none of those hooligans has taken the Friend hostage, and then tomorrow we might see if-”
“Ellie…”
The way he said her name, she knew exactly what he was going to propose. “Charles.”
“I’m not going back.”
“Oh, is it that easy?”
“Isn’t it what you want too?” He picked up her hand; his thumb grazed the thin skin stretched over her wrist. “This is our home.”
Eloise left her hand in his, but looked away to the ocean where Daniel had been just minutes ago, and where his pile of clothes still remained. “Your daughter is not going to be pleased. She’ll want her boat back.”
Charles waved away her weak attempt at a roadblock. “Penelope has everything she’ll ever need. Just like I do here, that is, if you’ll stay with me.”
She looked back at him. There was never a time on this island when Eloise had not been with him in some way. There had been Charles, her rival and playmate, and then Charles, her sometimes ally and sometimes lover. Back then he had always been so desperate to be something, a soldier, a leader, a father. And now none of that was available, and he just wanted to be with her. She didn’t know whether to be pleased or insulted.
“I’m too old for island magic and games.” It was a warning for him and her, and anyone else who might be listening.
He picked up her other hand, and kissed both of them. She hated the way he could do that, just make her want him with the barest touch of skin. She hated that he knew that, and that is why he smirked at her right now. “We’ll stay out of that,” he promised.
She rolled her eyes in way that would make Chang’s son jealous. “Unlikely.”
“Then we’ll show them how it’s done properly.”
She could have put up more of a fight, and tested his patience, only to turn the tables on him, and make him beg, but she was not lying when she said she was too old for those games. So she merely said, “Fine.”
“Fine? Just like that?”
“Yes, just like that.”
Charles’s lips found hers, and she allowed his kiss. Meanwhile, she reached up and undid her hair. It scattered wildly, whipping in the wind, like she had never let it be. And with that there was a mutual surrender, one that had been in the making for over sixty years.
x x x
The End.
Author's Note: Thank you for following this series to the end. I so appreciate and cherish the feedback and support from those who left comments and encouraged me along the way.