RP3 Part Two "One Year Later"

"Hey whats going on?" asked Sophie as she saw Ben peer out the window he saw Emma, Sayid, Jack, Sawyer, Mel and Keamy. He clenched his fist seeing the man who shot his daughter in cold blood standing there. Sophie went up to the window and peered through.

"Martin!" she whispered. "Whats he doing here? He was supposed to be on hydra."
Ben closed the curtain and turned to Sophie seeing her hold Thomas. "I won't let him harm you or Molly." he said looking down. Then looked up to Sophie. "Or you"

"I can handle him" Sophie said making Ben raise his eyebrow. Sophie sat down on the chair. "Ben..... - When I went to get Thomas. I bumped into Jacob!"

"Jacob? What did he do? What did he say?"

"He told me Thomas is the next leader!"

Sawyer stormed towards his own house in a fury, leaving Sayid, Emma and Jack standing there to digest what they had just seen. Emma's arms ached from holding Desmond.

"Jack, let's go home." she prodded gently. "Mel will sort out how to deal with Keamy, I don't think we need to worry at the moment. Sawyer will calm down on his own."

Sayid spoke up. "I'll leave you two. You know where to find me if you need me." He looked pointedly at Jack. They hadn't mentioned to Sayid what Oliver had told Jack, but Sayid sensed the tension between Jack and Emma and didn't want to complicate things any more than necessary. He turned and walked towards his own home.

Jack and Emma returned to their home, exhausted. Emma placed Desmond in the crib that had been prepared for him in the days of her pregnancy. She touched his forehead - he didn't yet seem ill. Emma hoped Oliver really had been lying about that.

Emma joined Jack at the kitchen table. He had pulled out Desmond's medical file, stolen from the experimental facility, and was staring at it intently.

"Tell me what Oliver meant about you and Sayid." he demanded of Emma.

Emma sighed, and plunged ahead. She had been anticipating this moment. "You have to understand what it was like, Jack. We were prisoners together, and we only had each other to cling to. When I killed Widmore's man, Sayid understood what I was feeling. We connected over it, somehow..." Emma was at a loss to explain any further.

Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I gave up everything for you, Emma. I hurt Juliet, I was prepared to turn against my own father...all for this? And now you expect me to believe that Oliver was lying about Desmond being the father of our baby, right?"

"He IS lying!" Emma cried desperately. "I was never unfaithful with Desmond! You have to believe me. Whatever that file tells you, it never happened that way. Desmond can't be the father!"

"There's only one way to find out." Jack opened the medical file before him.

Emma touched his arm. "Jack, no matter what that file says, I love you. I want to be with you. What happened with Sayid happened in a moment, and it's over."

"I love you, Emma, but I don't believe you anymore." Jack replied simply. He pulled out the contents of Desmond's file.

"But i thought he made his choice with John."

"I dunno Ben thats what he said too me. But i don't understand a few months ago he wanted me dead and now he wants our son to be the next leader? Why?"

"I don't know Sophie. Maybe he doesn't like whats going on the island now. He needs a change."

"I wish things could just quiet and normal."

"Hunny your married to me. You'll never have the quiet life." He chuckled.

..............................

Sophie was outside on her porch steps just watching everybody. She noticed Sawyer storm off in the jungle. But didn't bother to get involed. She noticed Keamy come out of Mels house and he glanced over to Sophie. Walking over towards her.

"Natalie? What are you doing here?" he questioned her. "Shouldn't oyu be working in the Orchid."

"No. I live here."

"What?"

Ben overheard talking to someone and came out.

"Sophie?" he questioned as he glared over to Keamy.

"Sophie?" Keamy asked. "Your Sophie? The one Mr Widmore is looking for."

"Yes she is!" Mel said standing behind him. Keamy turned to look at her. "C'mon Martin lets go!"

Sophie felt the tension between the air. By Mel and Ben, Ben and Keamy. Keamy glared at Sophie before heading off with Mel.

"What did he want?" Ben asked.

"Well he still thought i was Natalie till you blurted out my name." She said getting up from the porch. "How are the kids?" she asked.
"Sleeping!" Ben replied.

Mel grabbed Keamy's hand and pulled him away from Ben and Sophie. Once they were out of earshot he stopped her.

"Mel, that woman, Sophie, she was working in the Orchid station. She came with us on the freighter."

Mel ran a hand through her hair, "So she's been here this whole time and no one ever realized. Martin, my father left to find her. He took a huge risk that he would lose his way to the island."

Keamy sensed her growing distress and placed his hands on either side of her face. He forced her gently to look at him. "Charles Widmore is the most brilliant man I know. If he wants to get back to the island he will find a way no matter what obstacles are in his way."

Mel nodded and stared back into Keamy's eyes, "I need to speak with him Martin. Tell me there is a way for that to happen."

Keamy thought for a moment, "There may be, but it would be risky."

"Lets do it." Mel said, "Right now."

"It's not that easy Mel. It will take a day or two to set up. Can you wait that long?"

Mel sighed in frustration, "If I have to."

Keamy smiled down at her. Even now, after knowing him for years she was still amazed at the way he towered over her. She knew he was strong, very strong, but he was incredibly gentle each time he touched her.

She rested her head on his chest, "What I am going to do with you?" she said quietly trying to fight the urge to touch him, really touch him, back.

"You don't have to do anything Mel. You don't owe me anything."

"I know, it's just..." Mel hesitated.

Keamy raised her chin with one finger so she would have to look at him. He lowered his forehead to hers. "You want to." he said simply.

"Yes." Mel whispered as Keamy closed the small distance between their lips.

***************************************************

"Are you leaving?" Mel said in a panic the next day as she watched Christian throwing his belongings into a suitcase.

Christian gave her a look that made her take a step back.

"Because of Martin? You're leaving because of him?" Mel knew that Keamy was in the living room playing with William and that he could probably hear her but she didn't care.

"Of course I am! It is obvious that you are in love with him. I saw the two of you yesterday in the courtyard. You were kissing him! And you didn't care who watched."

"I kiss you in front of them all of the time!" Mel yelled. It wasn't so much that she was angry but that she was scared to lose her husband.

"I'm your husband!"

"And you said you would never leave me! You prmised me that no matter the circumstance you would stay by my side."

"This does not count." Christian argued.

Mel grabbed the shirt he was about to pack and threw it to the ground, "If there was ever a time for it to count, this would be it."

"You love him!" Christian yelled, "Why should I stay?"

"Because I love you too!" Mel cried and they both fell silent. It was the first time she had admitted out loud that she was indeed in love with Martin Keamy.

"You can't have both of us." Christian said softly as he sat on the edge of the bed. Mel went to him and sunk to her knees on the floor in front of him.

"Why not? Why can't I be with the two men that I love?"

"It's not right."

"Since when does anything on this island go with convention? Listen Christian. I've been on this island for almost three years and not once have I felt as safe as I do right now. Having the both of you here with me in this house, in the village, makes me feel like I can stop being afraid. Like we can have a real family and just live in peace."

"Mel." Christian said.

"Please, let me finish. When I was on the Hydra with Martin he told me something. He told me I was on the path to my destiny and that he was a part of it. You Christian are a part of it as well."

"How do you know? How do you know you're not supposed to be with just Keamy?"

"Because if you walk out that door, if I lost you right now, I don't think I could handle it. If you leave me I don't care what my destiny has planned. My furture doesn't matter without you in it."

Christian cupped her chin with his palm, "What if I can't do it? What if I can't live with this man who also claims my wife?"

Mel smiled, "I actually think that you will get along quite well if you give him a chance. You have a lot in common."

"Really?" Christian asked sarcastically, "Name one thing."

"We both want to keep her safe." Keamy said from the doorway. Mel hadn't even noticed him come down the hall. He held a sleeping William in his arms, his tiny head resting against Keamy's shoulder.

"He does have a point." Christian said and Mel's smile grew. This could work she told herself, it could really work.

***************************************************

"Are you ready?" Keamy asked Mel. They stood in the heart of the Tempest station, right next to the core. Christian stood above them on the platform that led to the entry way, keeping watch. Smoke rose from what seemed like every surface and every so often there was a hushed crackling that sounded like an explosion under ground.

Mel nodded, "I'm ready."

"You won't have much time. The sat phone for some reason reacts badly with the mechanics of the station."

"Then why did we come here?" Mel asked.

"Oliver is gone. This is the only way to contact your father." he said as he handed her the phone.

She hugged him quickly, "Thank you Martin."

He nodded, "I'm going to go keep look out with Christian. If you hear either one of us yell you get up those stairs and out of here. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Mel said as she watched him climb the steps. She pushed the send button on the phone and waited impaitiently.

Suddenly there was a voice on the other line, "Martin?" it asked.

"Dad! It's me!" she cried.

"Melody?" Is something wrong?" her father asked.

"No dad, everything is fine but I needed to speak with you."

"What is going on Melody? I can barely hear you."

"I'm in the Tempest, it's very loud. Dad, listen, Sophie is on the island!"

"What?"

"I saw her, she is here. She has been here for months in hiding."

"Damn!" her father yelled.

"Dad, can you come back. Do you know how to get back to the island?"

"That is going to be difficult Melody." her father sighed.

"Because the little bug-eyed bastard moved it thats why!"

"What do you mean he moved it? How could he possibly move the island."

"That is a long story Melody. I will have to start searching for it all over again. It could take some time. Who is there with you?"

"Christian and Martin."

"Together? Good dear, I knew Martin would make it. I want you to tell them both what I have told you. They will know what to do."

"Okay dad." Mel said as she felt a violent tremor rock the entire station.

"Mel!" Christian yelled, "We need to get out of here!"

Mel nodded, "I have to go dad. Promise me you will stay safe."

Charles chuckled, "Only if you promise the same. Melody I want you to kepp close to both Martin and Christian. If anything strange starts to happen to you, you go to them. Keep them fresh in your thoughts."

Mel was confused at her fathers words, "What do you mean dad?"

"Mel!" Keamy yelled.

"I don't have time to explain, you need to get out of there. The core sounds like it is going to blow." her father pushed, "Goodbye Melody, just remember that I have given you two Constants, don't forget."

Mel didn't have a clue what a contant was but she didn't have time to ask "Bye dad." she said as she lowered the phone from her ear. She looked around frantically. The entire room had filled with smoke. She couldn't make out the direction of the stairs.

"Mel!" she heard over and over. "Get out now!"

"I'm trying!" she yelled back.

The entire station was in a continous tremor. Mel felt as if the whole room was going to collapse onto her. She started int he direction she thought the stairs were in but she ran into something solid.

"s**t." she said to herself as she grew increasingly terrified. She didn't know what the Tempest would do to her if it did melt down but she doubted it was anything good.

She finally reached the stairs and with a cry of relief began to climb them. She was halfway up when a violent tremor sent her to her knees. She could see both Christian and Martin at the top of the stairs reaching for her. It was then she realized that the top part of the stairs had fallen away.

"Mel you have to jump!" Keamy yelled. "It's going to blow any second!"

Mel nodded and pulled herself to her feet. The distance was too far. There was no way she could make it across.

"Go!" she cried to them. "Get out of here!"

"We're not leaving you!" Christian yelled.

"I'm not giving you a choice. Leave now! I'm not going to put you in danger too!"

Keamy shook his head, "No. You jump now! I'll catch you."

Mel smiled sadly at them, "I love you both. Now leave. Someone has to take care of Will and Bella. It won't do them any good if we all die."

Keamy and Christian looked between each other as if they knew something she didn't. Finally Christian nodded.

"You try to find a way out!" he yelled.

Mel nodded and took a step backward on the shaking stairs.

Christian began to drag Keamy out the door, "Come on!" he yelled at him. "She will be fine!"

Mel reached the end of the stairs and turned around, she found she couldn't watch them leave. She felt blindly in front of her, hoping to find another door, anything.

Finally her hand hit something solid. She felt it and guessed it was a computer screen. Her hands moved down and before she could catch herself her hands hit the keyboard, pressing down a number of unknown keys. Suddenly everything went silent.

"Oh God." Mel breathed with a sigh of relief.

The following explosion could be heard around the entire island.

Keamy and Christian ran out of the tunnel of the Tempest and were thrown across the clearing as it exploded.

"No!" Keamy yellled as he jumped to his feet, the ground still shaking. He made to run back in but Christian held him back.

"Get ahold of yourself!" he yelled.

Keamy stopped and looked at him.

"We knew this might happen." Christian started. "She's not dead Martin, she can't die."

"But she could be hurt." Keamy argued.

Christian shook his head, "Any injury she might recieve will be healed within minutes. Look, this is one of the main reasons we are here. Widmore picked us for this very possibility."

"I don't like leaving her in there."

"Mel is stronger than you think. Even stronger since you've been around as much as I hate to admit." Christian said as he sat down on a fallen log across from the entrance of the near demolished Tempest.

Keamy looked at Christian puzzled and sat next to him, "You knew I would be coming didn't you."

"I did. But I had convinced myself that she wouldn't fall for you so easily like Charles expected. I was wrong."

"We have history." Keamy shrugged.

Christian looked at him sideways, "So did we."

Keamy quirked an eyebrow.

"We were together while she was in college."

"So she left me for you?" Keamy questioned.

"No actually, I was put in place because she left you. You were the one, Charles picked you for her. He approved of you and I'm sure you could have lived together happily. She made the decision to leave, to find herself."

"And she found you."

"Only because her father wanted her to."

"So he's planned her entire life for her. Do you think she realizes it?" Keamy mused.

"No, she is blind to the dark side of her father. But in his defense everything he has done has been to keep her safe. It almost like he knew what would happen before it did, so he knew how to plan for it. You ever get that feeling with him?"

Keamy laughed, "Every time I talk to the old man."

Christian laighed with him then sobered, "I don't think I told you this before, but thank you."

"For what?"

"For keeping Mel safe on the Hydra, for dying for her."

Keamy gazed at the Tempest, "I'd do it again."

"I know. So would I. That is why we're here. Because we love that woman enough to die for her."

Keamy continued to study the Tempest, "Why is there no fire?" he asked.

Christian looked at him in surprise, "Charles didn't tell you?"

"We didn't exactly have time for small talk before he left. What did he not tell me?"

"So you don't know the purpose of the Tempest?'

Keamy shook his head, not liking where this was going.

"The Tempest has the capability to gas the entire island. Now, that function was disabled when you and your men came to the island in the first place. But something was left active."

Keamy thought of the different reasons why there would be an explosion without a fire. He could only come to one conclusion, "No." he whispered.

"I'm afraid so. The core in the Tempest was electromagnetic much like the one that was in another hatch not too far from here. That is what exploded."

Keamy turned his worried eyes back to the Tempest. His pulse pounded in his ears as he considered the consequences of what had happened., "She's been exposed."

Mel slowly opened her eyes. All she could see was smoke but she could tell it was beginning to clear. She tired to move and cried out as her entire body screamed in protest. She looked down and saw that both of her legs were pinned under a large shelf.

She pulled herself to a sitting position and braced her hands under the shelf. The first time she tried to pull it up it didn't budge. The second time she felt it shift. She was able to raise it just enough to pull her legs out from underneath it.

As she got to her feet she took stock of her injuries. She had an array of cuts and bruises. Her thigh was an angry shade of purple where the shelf had fallen on it and it felt like she may have bruised her ribs. She hoped she hadn't broken any.

Over all she considered herself lucky as she looked around the Tempest, or what was left of it. Wreckage was all that was left. There was nothing to tell it had even been a building besides piles of concrete. It reminded her of the Hydra.

"I should be dead." she whispered to herself. There was no way a normal person could have survived this blast.

"Thank you Jacob." she said as she began to scramble over the concrete to the sliver of light she had discovered. She prayed that Martin and Christian had been able to make it out safely.

It took a while but Mel was finally able to climb and dig her way out of the Tempest. She poked her head out of the hole she had made and took a breath of fresh air.

She climbed out of the hole completely and looked around. A smile graced her face when she saw both Martin and Christian sitting on a fallen tree a few yards away.

Martin was the first to see her there. The look of relief on his face was obvious as he nudged Christian and motioned towards her. They both stood and started towards her. Mel was about to run to them when she was hit with a sudden bought of dizziness. She closed her eyes and willed the ground to stop spinning.

She placed her hands on her head trying to steady herself. She felt something wet on the back of her head. When she pulled her hand away to look, she saw it was covered in blood.

Martin saw this as well and began running towards her. "Mel!" he called.

"Martin?" she asked in question as she fell to her knees. He still seemed so far away.

Mel fell to the ground. For a moment her eyes stared at the canopy above, then they slowly closed as she fell unconscious.

Keamy watched in horror as Mel looked from the blood on her hands to him, then fell to the ground.

He was at her side in seconds. He scooped her limp body up from the jungle floor.

"Enough having her do this on her own. We're supposed to protect her!" he yelled at Christian.

Christian looked at Mel's still face and nodded, "Lets get her back to the village."

Keamy didn't wait any longer. He took the path to the village at the furious pace, sure Christian was right behind him.

He could feel her body beginning to grow cold and held her tighter, "Damnit Mel you stay with me!"