Ebb and Tide (10/10)
Title: Ebb and Flow (10/10) - "Ebb and Flow"
Characters: Jack/Kate, Sawyer/Kate, Desmond/Penny, ensemble
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: Through the Looking Glass
Words: 35,519
Disclaimer: Lost is not mine. This is what it would look like if it were.
Summary: Off island, Jack and Kate contemplate their mistake and receive help from unexpected sources. Meanwhile life goes on for those they left behind.
Author's Notes: Won best series in October 2007 and nominated for the 2007 "Fic I couldn't stop re-reading" at
lost_fic_awards.
Part 1 - Neither Here Nor There
Part 2 - Now and Then, Here and There
Part 3 - Between a Wish and a Thing Life Lies Waiting
Part 4 - A Place with its own Harvest
Part 5 - Having the Colour of Emeralds
Part 6 - Flesh and Blood, Flesh and Bone
Part 7 - Nailing a Cloud to the Sky
Part 8 - The Present is a Rope Stretched over the Past
Part 9 - Every Man is a Piece of the Continent
Part 10 - Ebb and Flow
Bonus Parts
8.5 - Pineapple Lessons
10.5 - Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens
x x x
Part 10/10 - Ebb and Flow
x x x
The stars were familiar.
Jack lay across the bench on the top deck of the Redux and traced with his index finger the outlines of Gemini, Taurus and Orion, just as Claire had once done, about a week after the plane crash. She had woken in the middle of the night with pains and he had gone to examine her in the moonlight. As she lay on a blanket in the sand, Claire had named the visible constellations and gestured to them with her free hand, while Charlie held the other. Jack had been too focused, one ear and hand pressed against her stomach, to pay attention to what she was saying. Even with the crashing of the waves and Claire’s rambling, he thought he could make out the baby’s heartbeat. In hindsight, it had most likely been hers or even his own which had been pounding with fear that she was going to deliver or possibly miscarry before they were rescued.
“It probably heartburn,” he had guessed. She had smiled, and then repeated her astronomy lesson to him.
Jack thought it was a good sign that he could see these constellations again. He, Kate and Walt had been on the Redux for six days, sailing southeast of Fiji. This was a course Penny had repeatedly searched with no luck, but perhaps there was something to Walt’s proclamations that he knew where to go or might be able to see what others could not.
Three weeks ago Jack had awoken to find Kate’s ultimatum on his voicemail, her voice stern but animated. “I’m coming over with Walt on Monday. That gives you three days to clean yourself up.”
He had listened to her message over and over, the voice so aching familiar that it seared his heart. As he listened, he had wandered around his condo aimlessly, trying to figure out what to do, when it occurred to him the first thing would be to get rid of the bottle in his hand. So he had dumped the remaining scotch, gathered the rest of the pills and dropped them one by one down the drain. Next, he had taken the longest shower of his life, so numb that he hardly noticed when the water turned from hot to warm to freezing cold, then crawled into bed and slept until Saturday night. He had got up, drank a pot of coffee and drove to all night grocery store, then came home and made eggs, bacon and toast, the first real meal he had eaten in weeks. He had promptly thrown it up and went back to bed but when he awoke on Monday morning, Jack had felt slightly more alert. By the time Kate and Walt arrived he had even managed to take the garbage out and wash a few dishes.
“You look…,” Kate had said in the doorway, one arm resting around Walt’s shoulders as she studied Jack from top to bottom, lingering on his eyes.
“Better?” he had asked, but when he heard his voice crack on that one word he knew that assessment was too much to ask for yet. Just seeing her standing before him made his skin itch and his hand slipped into his pocket, instinctively searching for a packet of Oxycodone.
“More like yourself,” she allowed, then stepped passed him, ushering Walt into the condo.
Over the next two weeks, as they made the preparations to leave for Fiji, Jack had felt the ground settling under his feet again. They hired Robert to meet them with the Redux and arranged for passports under different names, not only for Walt but all them. Michael’s apparent murder had made them all take extra precautions. As they did this, Walt explained he was sure he could get them back, he could see the island so clearly in his mind, even felt he had been back there in his dreams. Walt thought it had to be possible to go back, otherwise Jacob wouldn’t have warned him repeatedly not to return.
Jack was optimistic that Walt had been their missing beacon all along, their last chance to put things right. And if not, then he wasn’t sure he could go on.
At the same time, it was equally disturbing to contemplate actually finding the island, to discover what had transpired over the last two years. If he had fallen apart in the relative safety of home, and if they found anyone alive, would he recognize them as the people he once knew?
These were his thoughts as he looked up at the sky, watched the stars bob up and down as the Redux rose to meet every wave. There was a strong wind tonight and the sails held taunt with only an occasional flutter. It was a clear night so he was surprised when it started to rain lightly. He sat up and wiped the drops from his face only to discover it wasn’t rain at all.
Just as he examined the sooty substance between his fingers he heard Kate cry out, “Jack!”
He rushed down the ladder to the main deck where Kate had taken over the watch. She pointed to a glowing circle in the distance illuminating a dark silhouette. Patches of orange, purple, yellow and red lit a small window of darkness, as if part of the sun decided to hold an early, private sunrise.
“What is that?” she asked, face flushed with excitement. “Could that be it?”
“I don’t know,” he replied and then noticed flecks of ash in her hair and realization sunk in. He picked a piece out and showed it to her.
Her expression turned from joy to dread. “I’m going to wake Robert.”
Jack stood transfixed. He had been thirteen when Mount Saint Helens had erupted in Washington. He and his mother had watched the disaster unfold on television and Jack had been riveted by the huge column of ash that grew to a height of twelve miles, spewing volcanic debris across eleven different states. He remembers the pride he had felt when his father volunteered to join a team travelling to Portland to care for the wounded, a project that was cancelled when it was revealed there were few wounded, most of the affected population had been evacuated and those who had remained in the blast zone had been asphyxiated, burned or buried.
Robert appeared beside Jack, clad in a t-shirt and boxers, and scanned the horizon. “You never told me your goddamn island had a volcano. It makes one hell of a signal fire,” he said, then went back below deck.
Jack grasped the rail as the Redux surged forward at the start of the engine. Kate returned and pressed her hand against the small of his back and together they watched the blaze grow bigger and more distinct as they came closer. After a few minutes, they could see the colourful glow hovered like a halo over the highest point of a mountainous body of land, bursts of fire shot up into the sky and a large smoky cloud spread out above, masking the stars.
A sleepy Walt joined them, and stood for moment not seeing anything until his eyes adjusted to the dark. “Whoa, what is that?”
Kate told Walt, “Go put a life jacket on.”
“What?”
“Just do it.”
Walt watched for a few more moments, then tore himself away and returned in a flash with his life jacket and camera.
“I don’t remember it being so big,” he said, snapping photos, comparing the image before him with the picture on the digital screen, as if ensuring it was real.
“I just got off with Honolulu,” Robert reported, coming back on deck. “They’ve recorded considerable seismic action across this stretch of the Pacific over the last two days.”
“Two days ago?” Jack asked, panic rising in his voice. This couldn’t happen, not after everything. They couldn’t be two days too late.
“Don’t worry. The eruption is new, within the last few hours, I would say.”
“Did you call the coast guard?” Kate asked.
Robert nodded. “Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand. The Kiwis are furthest but the best equipped. I reckon they’ll get here first.” He took the wheel and adjusted the course slightly.
Kate, Jack and Walt stood in a line watching the island’s features come into view. Eventually they could make out waves crashing against sheer cliffs, then the coast line parted, revealing what they had thought was one island, was actually two. As they drew nearer to the one they had called home, the ash became more prominent, and the smell of fire heavier. Jack held the wheel as Robert and Kate took down the sails and Walt was assigned the task of holding the fire extinguisher at ready in case anything caught fire.
“There’s something up ahead,” Kate said rushing to the rail. “There, in the water!”
“Where?”
“It’s gone…No, there it is again!”
Robert turned on the spotlight, swivelled it across the open water between the two islands, and the mast of another sail boat could be seen, bobbing in the waves.
“Head toward the boat or the island?” he asked.
“The boat,” Kate and Jack said in unison.
“Could be Hume’s,” Robert suggested, turning the Redux toward the smaller craft.
They surged forward, the three of them peering over the rail, straining to catch a solid look at the boat which seemed to fall behind a wave every time they rode on top of one.
“Come on, come on…,” Kate recited.
All of sudden they were almost on top of it and Robert had to cut the engine and steer sharply to avoiding hitting the Elizabeth. Jack grabbed Walt as he stumbled backward. When he turned back to the other boat, he saw a shotgun raised at them.
“Desmond?” Jack called, shielding his eyes.
“Jack?” A voice, not Desmond’s, responded, laced with confusion. The gun was lowered, revealing a stunned figure dressed in ragged clothes, face smudged with ash. “Kate? Walt!”
“Jin!” Kate cried, clutching Jack’s arm. “Oh my god, it’s Jin.”
Everyone spoke at once, a rush of exclamations, greetings and questions whose details were lost in the hail of voices. At that moment it only mattered that they had found each other.
“The others? Are the others alright?” Jack finally managed to get across clearly.
“The Others?” Jin repeated, frowning. “We’re no longer with the Others.”
“Our people? Claire, Sayid, Sawyer - are they okay?”
“The volcano…,” Jin said something else but the words were dissolved in the wind, “…Sayid….. Hurry.”
Kate cupped her hands and yelled, “What?” but her question was overshadowed by a large boom that echoed from the centre of the island. A volley of sparks spewed from the volcano and sprinkled over the tree cover.
Jin pointed to their island and then the one behind. “We’re taking everyone there.”
“We’ll follow you.”
Jin nodded, and went to adjust the sails, then yelled over. “I have a son!”
Kate shook her head. “Sun?”
“Sun and I,” he tapped his chest and then held out his hand flat at knee level, “we have a son.”
“That’s great,” Jack said. A grin broke out on his face. “That’s great.” He turned to Kate, who looked stricken and at first he thought this was do to Jin’s last announcement.
“Jack, did you hear him? What did he say about …?”
He squeezed her shoulder. “I didn’t hear him either, Kate.”
Kate ducked her head and disappeared below deck. Robert slapped Jack on the back and tousled Walt’s hair. “I never thought you’d find these folks. Penny would’ve been proud.” He returned to the wheel, and swung it around to follow the Elizabeth through the increasingly choppy water.
It grew darker as the two boats negotiated the rocks around the cliffs. The smoke had blotted out most of the moonlight and ash began to fall regularly like snow, coating everything with a thin layer of grim. After about twenty minutes, Jack squinted at the shoreline and adrenaline surged through him as he recognized the smooth flat rocks of the cove about five miles from their old beach.
Kate reappeared beside him, fiddling with the straps of the large back pack. She had washed her face and pulled her hair back into a pony tail. “I told Walt to stay on the boat, when we get there.”
“Good idea.”
She sucked in her breath. “Can you believe this is really happening?”
“Kate…” Her brow furrowed and she wiped her forehead, leaving a trail of ash. He cleaned his hand on his jeans and then brushed the soot off her. “Thanks for not giving up on me.”
“Jack…”
“I’m sorry about what I said before, about you and me, how it wasn’t supposed to happen this way. I wouldn’t want to change what happened, between us, here or at home.”
“Me neither.”
“Whatever happens, whatever we find… If we can’t get back…”
She reached up and dusted the ash from his hair and beard. “We’re going to get everyone and go home.”
He bent down and gathered her in his arms. She dropped the backpack and returned the embrace, buried her face in his chest. They stood like this, holding each other, scanning the shoreline until the beach came into view.
Three campfires flickered in the sand. A small group of people rushed to the shore as the boats approached.
“I can’t go any further,” Robert said. “You’ll have to take the dinghy from here.”
Jack untied it and lowered it into the water. Kate was already halfway down the ladder when it landed. He held it steady as she got in, then passed the rope to Robert and followed her down.
Walt leaned over the side. “I can’t see Vincent.”
“He’s probably already on the other island,” Jack said and then dropped into the dingy beside Kate. She pressed the starter button on the motor and steered over to Jin who was paddling his own dingy. Jack threw a rope to him and they towed him behind.
“Jack! Jin’s dingy says Redux.”
“What?”
“It’s Penny’s. She made it here too.”
Jack searched the crowd, waving and jumping up and down but he couldn’t make out any faces in the dark. A few ran into the water to greet them. Just as Kate cut the motor, two figures reached the dinghy. Strong arms reached around Jack, almost lifted him out of the boat.
“Dude.”
“Hurley.”
“Your timing couldn’t be better…Well, it could’ve been but …” Hurley gave up speaking and just hugged him or tried as best he could. Jack noticed he was handcuffed to a reluctant person, clearly mortified to be part of this reunion.
Jack jumped into the water. “Hurley?”
“Oh yeah.” Hurley gestured with his cuffed hand to the one armed, one eyed man at his side. “I’m saddled with this hooy morzhovy every time we leave a secure area. Kinda makes me regret asking to spare his worthless life. You hear me, Mikhail?”
“Rodilsya cherez jopu,” Mikhail sputtered, then slipped and fell into the water as a wave hit him.
Hurley tugged him up. “Yeah, right back at you.”
Rousseau and Bernard rushed into the water to help pull the two dinghies ashore. Jack noticed Kate had already slipped out of the boat and was mingling with the crowd. Jin draped one arm around Jack and they wadded through the water to the beach where Rose immediately pulled him into her arms, whispered soothing words and rubbed his back as if he was the one who needed to be rescued.
“They’ll be time for a reunion later,” Danielle said. “We need to get everyone over to the other side.”
Jack pulled away from Rose and scanned the rest of the faces. The were fewer people than he expected, about a dozen, mainly familiar faces of passengers, and a few Others. He saw Kate was clinging to a woman who he initially thought was Juliet, but then he recognized it was Penny.
“Claire, where is she?”
“She’s fine, she’s with Aaron, already over there. We took the children and injured over first,” Jin explained.
“I’m not leaving without Desmond,” Penny said, stepping forward. She clasped Jack’s hand, smiled, and then said the to rest, “I’ll wait here.”
“Where is he?” Jack asked.
“He went back for John,” she explained, “with Sawyer.”
“Well, we’ll wait here too. Leave the Elizabeth. The Redux is big enough to get everyone else to the other island.”
“Jack, you should go with them.” Hurley nodded to Danielle and Jin who were arranging people in the dinghies. “Sayid burned his hands pretty badly. He needs a doctor.”
Jack’s stomach dropped. “What about Juliet?”
“Yeah, she’s not really up to doctoring.”
“What happened?”
“It’s a long story,” Hurley stated wearily and Jack noticed how tired he looked. “About three weeks ago, Ben gave this whole speech about returning to their roots and then he and a bunch of the Others took off into the jungle. Just before the first earthquake, we found them all dead by the temple.”
“The sickness?”
“I don’t think so. There wasn’t a mark on them, kinda like with Eko.”
“And Juliet had gone with them?”
“No, no. We think Ben had been poisoning her for a while, with Methanol or something. Just before he left, she got really sick. She’s okay now but she can’t see.”
Jack looked up at the sky. Dawn was breaking around the island, a grey light tinged with pink rose from the ocean to converge with the dark cloud of smoke. He met Kate’s eyes, and exchanged a look that spoke of both regret and relief.
Danielle touched his shoulder. “If you’re coming with us, we have to go now.”
“You’re staying here?” he asked Kate and she nodded.
Jack retreated back into the water, let himself be led by Rousseau into the dinghy. As they travelled back to the Redux he watched Kate, Penny, Hurley and Mikhail fad into the dark landscape.
x x x
Boone and Shannon. Libby and Ana-Lucia. Nikki and Paulo.
Kate stood at the cemetery, sweeping the ash off the graves with a stick, revealing tiny pink flowers amongst the grass and sand. Somewhere just north of here Edwards Mars was buried in a clearing beside a rock. She didn’t know where Eko’s grave was, somewhere near the remnants of the hatch.
Charlie.
He had a marker here, even though his body was never recovered. His guitar was still tied to the cross, two of the broken strings waved in the wind. She was tempted to take it off and bring it home, but that didn’t seem right. It wasn’t her choice to make.
She gripped the stick tightly, her left leg twitched with nervous energy. Her monosyllabic responses to Hurley and Penny’s parade of questions had convinced them to leave her alone and now she really wished they hadn’t. Her mind was empty, blank, paused. She wanted to run into the jungle but even if she had known where to look, even if the lava and fire weren’t encroaching on them, she would have felt utterly disoriented, like she no longer belonged here. Yet this was the same feeling she had felt once home, had always carried around with her. It was only here, after the crash, amid the death, the fear, the mind games and power struggles, that she had momentarily felt like she belonged.
Kate never doubted one of the island’s many gifts had been a putrid sense of irony.
The ground began to quiver. It was the third aftershock since she had arrived but this time it was joined by a furious metallic squeal that seemed to pour from the jungle. If there had been any birds left in the trees, she imagined they would have flown away now, their squawking exodus drowned out by the noise. Kate fell to her knees and covered her ears, saw Hurley and Penny do the same by the campfire. The sound reverberated in her bones, her teeth rattled and she squeezed her eyes shut.
When it stopped, the silence was almost as deafening. A sharp ringing ran through her head as her ears adjusted to quiet. When the ringing faded it was replaced by a new sound, raspy breaths, like a drowning person gasping for air. She opened her eyes, and was shocked to see Sawyer crouched beside her, kneeling as if in prayer, his head practically touching the ground.
Kate’s eyes widened and she felt as if her heart stopped. She had kept it closed to this moment for two years, not wanting to let thoughts of him in.
“Sawyer.”
He lifted his head, just barely and she wasn’t even sure if he saw her before passing out. Kate crawled over to him, and touched him tentatively but he didn’t move. She rolled him onto his back, tilted his neck, and held her cheek to his face. He was still breathing.
Desmond burst out of the jungle, with Locke draped over one shoulder. He stumbled through the graveyard and gently placed Locke down beside Sawyer. He rested his arms on his thighs, then dropped on all fours, breathing heavily. All three men were covered in mud and ash and where she could see their clothes, they were singed.
Penny rushed by Kate, as did Hurley, dragging Mikhail behind him. As she cradled Sawyer, she watched Desmond take Penny’s hand, rest it on his heart.
“We have to go now,” Desmond said when he had caught his breath. “We were just ahead of it.”
Kate didn’t ask what he meant by ‘it’, the lava or whatever that horrible sound had been.
Locke raised his upper body, winced and then collapsed again. “Just leave me.”
“I will not,” he said, wiping his brow and standing up. “Pen, help me.”
Hurley unlocked Mikhail, so he could help Kate with Sawyer. Mikhail watched them carry the two men to the shore before walking the opposite way. Hurley called after him but he didn’t doing anything when Mikhail failed to respond. Kate stayed with Locke and Sawyer as the others took the dinghy back to the Elizabeth. She sat in between them, the water lapped at their feet.
“Kate, please, just leave me behind.”
“This was never really our home, John.”
“This wasn’t my destiny.”
Kate never knew what to say to Locke when he was like this. Jack was much better dealing with his whimsy because challenging it was always easier than accepting it. “Are you sure your destiny is to die here?”
Locke craned his neck back to the jungle, “I did everything it wanted…”
“John, you did a good thing. You kept everyone together. Maybe that was your destiny.”
He didn’t respond, just stared up at the sky. They waited in an awkward silence for Penny to return, then together she and Kate dragged Sawyer and Locke into the dinghy. From the water Kate could better see the damage to the island. Its lushness had been swallowed up in an oozing cloud of smoke and dust. Barely five metres of trees could be seen behind the beach. When they arrived, Desmond and Hurley dropped a rope over the side of the Elizabeth to hoist the two men up to the deck. By the time Kate climbed up to the boat, they had taken Sawyer down into Desmond’s cabin.
Kate perched on the edge of the bed. Penny appeared with a pitcher of water, a glass and a cloth then left to go help Desmond with the sails. Kate washed Sawyer’s face and arms, constantly checking to see if he was still breathing. Underneath the dirt he looked exactly the same, almost peaceful, which she guessed was somewhat of a change.
She was startled when he came awake with a rattling cough. She pressed the glass of water to his lips. He drank it all, she refilled it and he took some more, regarding her all the while with great seriousness. He finished the second glass and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Either I’m having déjà vu or there’s actually something to Braveheart’s visions.”
“That explains why no one seemed particularly surprised to see me.”
He looked around the room. “Am I in a bunk bed?”
“No.”
“Well then, you better tell me we’re saved because I’m getting mighty sick of this merry-go-round.”
“We contacted the coast guard. They’re on their way.”
“Course nothing could go wrong with that plan.” He swung his legs over the bed so they were sitting side by side. “Is Jack here too?”
“Yes.”
“Swell.”
“Sawyer…”
“Save it.” He held a finger to his lips, tossed his hair back. “One disaster at a time. I wanna get a look at the island.” He got up and left her sitting on the bed. She focused on watching the lone blue fish swimming in circles in a bowl on a shelf so she wouldn’t have to see him go, hoped the tears would wait until he was gone but then he didn’t leave. “You came back for me.”
Too late, the tears were falling. She prayed he wouldn’t turn around. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Why? I never meant to leave like that.”
Sawyer rested his hands on either side of the doorframe, bowed his head. “Do you have a picture?”
Kate picked up her backpack from the floor and took out an envelope sealed in a plastic bag. She removed the photos, stood and passed them to him. “Here.”
Sawyer flipped through them once, quickly. Then he slid down the door frame onto the floor, looked at them all again, savouring each image. “She was so tiny.”
“I know.”
“She was lucky to get your nose.”
“Mine?” Kate came over, sat beside him. “That was definitely yours.”
“I know, I was just tryin’ to be generous.”
“Every so often she would smirk at me. Yeah, just like that, and I could have sworn it was you.”
“Babies don’t smirk.”
Kate sniffed and then wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Oh, I forgot you were the expert.”
He put his arm around her, and she leaned into him. “She would’ve been hell on wheels.”
“I know.”
x x x
“Remember the time, the bird said my name?”
“It did not.”
“Did so.”
“And even if it did, that would be your weirdest experience?” Sawyer asked as they sat around a table by the hotel pool in Christchurch. “Stranger than the polar bear? Stranger than seeing your numbers everywhere? Stranger than the island seemingly imploding the minute the Doc strolled back into our lives?”
“I never saw the polar bear,” Hurley said. “Jack, did you see the polar bear?”
Jack shook his head. “I did not.”
“Claire?” Hurley asked.
“I heard enough about it,” she responded from the pool steps, where she was playing with Aaron. “I feel like I saw it.”
“Doesn’t count.” Hurley turned back to Sawyer, “See, I think you’re lying about the polar bear.”
“Help me out here, Freckles.”
“I saw it and I ate its food.”
“I saw one too,” Walt chimed in.
“See, even the kid saw one.”
“Okay, you win but that bird said my name.”
Sawyer threw up his hands. “Fine, fine the bird said your name.”
Jack chuckled. Everyone was in high spirits this morning. Hurley’s mother was arriving on an afternoon plane. Sun and Jin had left for Auckland the night before where they would meet her mother and his father, show Ki off to his grandparents. Sayid had called earlier from the hospital to say that Juliet’s treatment was working and the doctors were sure her blindness was only temporary.
Jack felt wet clammy hands on his leg and looked down to see Aaron, shaking his wet hair like a dog, scattering the scent of chlorine.
“Ready?” Claire asked.
Jack pushed back his chair. “I’ll see you all later.”
“Where are we going?” Aaron asked.
“We’re going to visit Mr. Locke, sweetie.”
Unfortunately, Sayid had also reported this morning that Locke’s doctors concluded his paralysis was permanent and were flabbergasted at the idea he had been upright for two and a half years. Sayid asked Jack to consult with the doctors, offer a second opinion. Jack wasn’t sure what he could do, he had seen Locke’s old and new X-rays and had drawn the same medical conclusion. However, all things considered, this was Locke after all, Jack was not entirely convinced nothing could be done.
“Good luck,” Kate said.
Jack smiled at her. “Thanks.”
Claire picked up Aaron and she and Jack walked across the patio and into the lobby. “We’re just going to change out of these wet suits. We’ll meet you back here in a few minutes.”
“Sure.” He waited on a couch away from the windows where he could see the news vans parked outside. Claire was the survivor they were most interested in interviewing, the story of pretty blonde pregnant girl who had survived the crash and given birth on a deserted island trumped all the others, and that was even before they got word of the heroic dead rock star part. They would have to go out another door.
“Jack.” Penny touched his shoulder, sat beside him.
“Hey.”
“You shaved.”
Jack rubbed his jaw, it felt strange to feel the bare skin. “Sawyer told me I was stealing his thunder because I looked more like the castaway.”
“You’ve gone through this all before.” She nodded to the reporters gathered outside the doors.
“That was much quieter, someone was controlling the story then.”
“They’re not in control anymore it seems.”
“I guess not, hopefully all the attention will be enough to shield us from whoever is still out there,” Jack said.
“Maybe some intrepid journalist will be able to fit together the pieces we never could.”
“When are you going home?”
“We haven’t decided. We might sail back to the Bahamas with Robert and travel on from there.”
“You’re serious?”
“We’re in no rush to get back to the U.K. Christchurch feels strange enough. Des can’t get over the noise, all the cars. Neither of us is ready for London yet,” she explained. “And you?”
“I’m going to Sydney with Claire first, after that…I’m not sure.”
“There’s a lot to figure out.” Penny squeezed his shoulder again. “One day at a time.”
They both stood when they saw Claire and Aaron approaching.
“Jaaaack.” The little boy flung himself at Jack, hugging his leg, as he had taken to doing every time they met.
“Ready?” Claire asked, taking Jack’s hand.
“Ready.”
x x x
Author’s notes: And so it goes. Thanks for reading!
Oh wait, there's a bonus ending - Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens