Five Things That Never Happened In The Sideways Verse
Title: Five Things That Never Happened In The Sideways Verse
Characters: Locke, Anthony Cooper, Michael, Ana Lucia, Miles, Naomi, David Shephard, Dogen's son,Frank, Seth Norris.
Pairing: Miles/Naomi
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers up to The End. Michael's story in Everybody Loves Hugo ignored.
Summary: Written for scandaloussteph, who requested the sideways verse at lostsquee Summer Luau. Locke has one final confrontation with his father, Michael redeems himself by saving Ana Lucia, Miles meets Naomi at the benefit concert, David compares parent issues with Dogen's son, and Frank remembers his guilt over Seth.
Locke looked at his father, and wondered if he remembered too.
He wondered if Anthony had ever remembered pushing him out of that window, if he knew that he had once conned him for a kidney. When Anthony had made contact second time around, full of talk about how he hadn’t even known Emily was pregnant until long after she’d given him up for adoption and how he wanted to make things right, had he remembered then and was he really trying to make things right? Or had the whole thing been part of another con? He did know that his father hadn’t renounced his con-artist life, at least not at first; James hadn’t known he was there, but Locke had just overheard his confrontation with him where he’d read that same letter out to Anthony again. So if he’d still been leading his old life when he’d conned the Fords, he could quite well have never changed at all.
But Locke knew that he was never going to get an answer to that question, since his father had been left in a state where he was unable to communicate.
When the crash had first happened, and father and son had both ended up in wheelchairs, Locke had accepted his paralysis because he felt it was what he had deserved for what he had done to his father. Now he wondered if it was destiny; if in fact it was his father receiving his just deserts, if this was the universe’s way of righting itself.
A part of why he hadn’t ever wanted to leave the island had been because it had represented escape from his father. Today, he knew that he was seeing him for the final time, because he was going somewhere his father could never follow.
It was always hard for Michael, saying goodbye after his trips to see Walt, and he knew that Walt felt the same. He’d told Michael in private that he wasn’t really getting on with his stepfather, Brian, and had asked whether he’d be able to come and live with him instead. Susan had said a firm no, said that Walt and Brian would just have to work things out, but Michael was hoping that one day he’d be able to change her mind. His art might not bring in steady money, but he was successful enough that he didn’t need to get some job that would require him to leave Walt alone all day.
It had been a mistake, letting him go with Susan and Brian. Okay, so Susan had tried to claim that he’d have a better life with them, but was it really a better life with a stepfather who made it clear he couldn’t be the father Walt needed? Susan had seemed to think that having a better life was all about material things, but Michael knew that given the chance, he could show that he knew what being a father was all about.
He was starting to think of all the things he’d get to show Walt if Susan ever agreed to let him come and visit him in America when he noticed a woman in cop’s uniform, talking on her phone and not seeming to notice anything around her. “Look, you didn’t see these guys,” she was saying. “The Iraqi overpowered me. No, I’m not expecting any preferential treatment because my mother’s the captain, okay?” As the cop continued to argue with the person on the other end of the phone, she didn’t seem to realise she had just wandered into the road, stepping right in front of a cab.
Without even thinking about what he was doing, Michael raced after her, shoving her out of the way just in time. The cab driver leaned out of his window to yell abuse at them, but Michael barely noticed as he helped the woman to her feet, noticing as he did that her name badge read “Cortez”.
“What the hell - Did you just save my life?” Officer Cortez asked shakily.
Michael was about to answer her, but another image suddenly flashed before his eyes; the woman before him, whose name he now remembered was Ana Lucia, handing him a gun, then himself saying “I’m sorry” before turning the gun on her…
He remembered everything now. He’d killed her in a previous life, but in this life he’d saved her. At last, Michael began to feel that he had redeemed himself.
Well, I guess you got over James, then, Miles thought to himself as he half-listened to Charlotte going on about the guy on the stage, Daniel Widmore. That wasn’t like her, he mused. She never usually went on like this about guys she’d only just met, although the way she was talking, it was like she already knew him somehow. But Miles couldn’t think how; when the two of them weren’t working, they were usually hanging out together, and Miles knew he didn’t recognise the guy.
He glanced around him, caught the eye of some black woman sat at the next table looking bored. As he watched, the woman turned around in her chair to face him. “You look like you’re in need of rescuing,” she smiled.
Miles rolled his eyes. “Is it that obvious?”
The woman nodded. “I know the feeling. I’ve spent the last hour needing that too. I’ve been trying to keep my head down the entire night because these two are having some sort of domestic.” She indicated her table companions. “That man in the suit? That’s Charles Widmore, Daniel Widmore’s father, and my boss.”
“And the woman he’s arguing with?” Miles asked.
“His wife. Eloise. She’s just had a right go at him for turning up late, but I think there’s more to it than that. I know she was arguing with Mr. Hume earlier, but I don’t know what about.” She shook her head. “Sorry, I just realised I’ve been going on about my employers, and I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Naomi.” She held out her hand. “Naomi Dorrit.”
Miles shook her hand. “Miles Straume.”
Suddenly, Charlotte’s comments about Daniel Widmore didn’t seem so crazy. Because Miles felt almost as if he knew this Naomi, too.
“Hey. It’s David, isn’t it? I’m Hachiro. You did good out there.”
David turned around to see who had spoken, and recognised a Japanese boy he’d noticed earlier. “Thanks,” he muttered, embarrassed. At least someone thought so, anyway. “But I missed a few notes back there.”
“I didn‘t notice,” his new friend continued. “And I doubt anyone else did either. I think we always notice our own mistakes more. I just met your dad back there, and he looked like he was pretty impressed.”
“Dad?” David froze. “My dad is here?”
“Well, he said he was your dad. I ran into him out there right after you’d finished.”
“Great,” David moaned. “Now he’s just seen me screw up. I didn’t even tell him I had this audition today because he always used to sit and watch me and it made me nervous. I felt like he kind of expected me to screw up. Still, I guess I’m glad I didn’t know he was there, since I’d probably have missed eight notes instead of four,” he attempted to joke.
“With me it’s my mother,” Hachiro commiserated. “My dad’s always said that he just wants me to be happy, but she keeps on at him. Do you not want your son to be successful, Dogen? Do you really want to see him waste his talent? Anyone would think it’s her who’s got the audition, rather than me.”
David laughed, thinking back to the days when his parents were still married and how Juliet used to tell Jack to go easier on him. But he wondered whether, if she’d also known about the audition, whether she would have pushed him in the same way. She certainly wouldn’t have gone to Aunt Rachel’s for the week, she’d have come along and quite probably made David even more nervous.
“Hey, I gotta go,” Hachiro said at last. “My turn’s coming up. But I’m sure you did great, okay?”
And as David watched his audition, he felt sure that his new friend would also succeed.
Frank hadn’t kept in touch with many of his old co-workers from Oceanic since the day he got fired for showing up drunk, but he’d always made an exception for Seth Norris, the only one who stuck with him throughout, encouraged him to go to AA. For the most part, he was doing well with that, although the last meeting he’d gone to had been tough - turned out one of their regulars, a former spinal surgeon named Christian, had recently relapsed and died, which had been a shock to them all. Frank hadn’t known the guy well, but it was still strange for him to think that they wouldn’t have their regular jokey argument about the Sox versus the Yankees ever again.
“But you’re hanging in there apart from that?” Seth asked.
Frank nodded. “More or less. And you?”
“Still covering your old routes.” Seth chuckled as he remembered. “Had quite a bad flight from Sydney to LA the other day, lot of turbulence, but I got all my passengers there in one piece.”
You're showing footage of Seth Norris and that's not him, listen, this guy married his high school sweetheart at nineteen, he always wore his wedding ring and I'm telling you there's no ring on that body.
Frank looked at his friend and he saw it all; himself waking up on the couch to see on the news that the flight he’d missed had disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, the news report that the flight had been found, but showing a body that wasn’t Seth’s, and he remembered his guilt that he hadn’t been the one flying the plane that day…
There hadn’t been anything he could do for Seth before. But Seth survived this time, and Frank can now live with his guilt.
Characters: Locke, Anthony Cooper, Michael, Ana Lucia, Miles, Naomi, David Shephard, Dogen's son,Frank, Seth Norris.
Pairing: Miles/Naomi
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers up to The End. Michael's story in Everybody Loves Hugo ignored.
Summary: Written for scandaloussteph, who requested the sideways verse at lostsquee Summer Luau. Locke has one final confrontation with his father, Michael redeems himself by saving Ana Lucia, Miles meets Naomi at the benefit concert, David compares parent issues with Dogen's son, and Frank remembers his guilt over Seth.
Locke looked at his father, and wondered if he remembered too.
He wondered if Anthony had ever remembered pushing him out of that window, if he knew that he had once conned him for a kidney. When Anthony had made contact second time around, full of talk about how he hadn’t even known Emily was pregnant until long after she’d given him up for adoption and how he wanted to make things right, had he remembered then and was he really trying to make things right? Or had the whole thing been part of another con? He did know that his father hadn’t renounced his con-artist life, at least not at first; James hadn’t known he was there, but Locke had just overheard his confrontation with him where he’d read that same letter out to Anthony again. So if he’d still been leading his old life when he’d conned the Fords, he could quite well have never changed at all.
But Locke knew that he was never going to get an answer to that question, since his father had been left in a state where he was unable to communicate.
When the crash had first happened, and father and son had both ended up in wheelchairs, Locke had accepted his paralysis because he felt it was what he had deserved for what he had done to his father. Now he wondered if it was destiny; if in fact it was his father receiving his just deserts, if this was the universe’s way of righting itself.
A part of why he hadn’t ever wanted to leave the island had been because it had represented escape from his father. Today, he knew that he was seeing him for the final time, because he was going somewhere his father could never follow.
It was always hard for Michael, saying goodbye after his trips to see Walt, and he knew that Walt felt the same. He’d told Michael in private that he wasn’t really getting on with his stepfather, Brian, and had asked whether he’d be able to come and live with him instead. Susan had said a firm no, said that Walt and Brian would just have to work things out, but Michael was hoping that one day he’d be able to change her mind. His art might not bring in steady money, but he was successful enough that he didn’t need to get some job that would require him to leave Walt alone all day.
It had been a mistake, letting him go with Susan and Brian. Okay, so Susan had tried to claim that he’d have a better life with them, but was it really a better life with a stepfather who made it clear he couldn’t be the father Walt needed? Susan had seemed to think that having a better life was all about material things, but Michael knew that given the chance, he could show that he knew what being a father was all about.
He was starting to think of all the things he’d get to show Walt if Susan ever agreed to let him come and visit him in America when he noticed a woman in cop’s uniform, talking on her phone and not seeming to notice anything around her. “Look, you didn’t see these guys,” she was saying. “The Iraqi overpowered me. No, I’m not expecting any preferential treatment because my mother’s the captain, okay?” As the cop continued to argue with the person on the other end of the phone, she didn’t seem to realise she had just wandered into the road, stepping right in front of a cab.
Without even thinking about what he was doing, Michael raced after her, shoving her out of the way just in time. The cab driver leaned out of his window to yell abuse at them, but Michael barely noticed as he helped the woman to her feet, noticing as he did that her name badge read “Cortez”.
“What the hell - Did you just save my life?” Officer Cortez asked shakily.
Michael was about to answer her, but another image suddenly flashed before his eyes; the woman before him, whose name he now remembered was Ana Lucia, handing him a gun, then himself saying “I’m sorry” before turning the gun on her…
He remembered everything now. He’d killed her in a previous life, but in this life he’d saved her. At last, Michael began to feel that he had redeemed himself.
Well, I guess you got over James, then, Miles thought to himself as he half-listened to Charlotte going on about the guy on the stage, Daniel Widmore. That wasn’t like her, he mused. She never usually went on like this about guys she’d only just met, although the way she was talking, it was like she already knew him somehow. But Miles couldn’t think how; when the two of them weren’t working, they were usually hanging out together, and Miles knew he didn’t recognise the guy.
He glanced around him, caught the eye of some black woman sat at the next table looking bored. As he watched, the woman turned around in her chair to face him. “You look like you’re in need of rescuing,” she smiled.
Miles rolled his eyes. “Is it that obvious?”
The woman nodded. “I know the feeling. I’ve spent the last hour needing that too. I’ve been trying to keep my head down the entire night because these two are having some sort of domestic.” She indicated her table companions. “That man in the suit? That’s Charles Widmore, Daniel Widmore’s father, and my boss.”
“And the woman he’s arguing with?” Miles asked.
“His wife. Eloise. She’s just had a right go at him for turning up late, but I think there’s more to it than that. I know she was arguing with Mr. Hume earlier, but I don’t know what about.” She shook her head. “Sorry, I just realised I’ve been going on about my employers, and I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Naomi.” She held out her hand. “Naomi Dorrit.”
Miles shook her hand. “Miles Straume.”
Suddenly, Charlotte’s comments about Daniel Widmore didn’t seem so crazy. Because Miles felt almost as if he knew this Naomi, too.
“Hey. It’s David, isn’t it? I’m Hachiro. You did good out there.”
David turned around to see who had spoken, and recognised a Japanese boy he’d noticed earlier. “Thanks,” he muttered, embarrassed. At least someone thought so, anyway. “But I missed a few notes back there.”
“I didn‘t notice,” his new friend continued. “And I doubt anyone else did either. I think we always notice our own mistakes more. I just met your dad back there, and he looked like he was pretty impressed.”
“Dad?” David froze. “My dad is here?”
“Well, he said he was your dad. I ran into him out there right after you’d finished.”
“Great,” David moaned. “Now he’s just seen me screw up. I didn’t even tell him I had this audition today because he always used to sit and watch me and it made me nervous. I felt like he kind of expected me to screw up. Still, I guess I’m glad I didn’t know he was there, since I’d probably have missed eight notes instead of four,” he attempted to joke.
“With me it’s my mother,” Hachiro commiserated. “My dad’s always said that he just wants me to be happy, but she keeps on at him. Do you not want your son to be successful, Dogen? Do you really want to see him waste his talent? Anyone would think it’s her who’s got the audition, rather than me.”
David laughed, thinking back to the days when his parents were still married and how Juliet used to tell Jack to go easier on him. But he wondered whether, if she’d also known about the audition, whether she would have pushed him in the same way. She certainly wouldn’t have gone to Aunt Rachel’s for the week, she’d have come along and quite probably made David even more nervous.
“Hey, I gotta go,” Hachiro said at last. “My turn’s coming up. But I’m sure you did great, okay?”
And as David watched his audition, he felt sure that his new friend would also succeed.
Frank hadn’t kept in touch with many of his old co-workers from Oceanic since the day he got fired for showing up drunk, but he’d always made an exception for Seth Norris, the only one who stuck with him throughout, encouraged him to go to AA. For the most part, he was doing well with that, although the last meeting he’d gone to had been tough - turned out one of their regulars, a former spinal surgeon named Christian, had recently relapsed and died, which had been a shock to them all. Frank hadn’t known the guy well, but it was still strange for him to think that they wouldn’t have their regular jokey argument about the Sox versus the Yankees ever again.
“But you’re hanging in there apart from that?” Seth asked.
Frank nodded. “More or less. And you?”
“Still covering your old routes.” Seth chuckled as he remembered. “Had quite a bad flight from Sydney to LA the other day, lot of turbulence, but I got all my passengers there in one piece.”
You're showing footage of Seth Norris and that's not him, listen, this guy married his high school sweetheart at nineteen, he always wore his wedding ring and I'm telling you there's no ring on that body.
Frank looked at his friend and he saw it all; himself waking up on the couch to see on the news that the flight he’d missed had disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, the news report that the flight had been found, but showing a body that wasn’t Seth’s, and he remembered his guilt that he hadn’t been the one flying the plane that day…
There hadn’t been anything he could do for Seth before. But Seth survived this time, and Frank can now live with his guilt.