RP3 Part Two "One Year Later"

Mel sat up quickly and was hit by a dizzy spell. When it finally faded she was able to look around. To start, she was lying in a bed. The walls around her were painted a calming pumpkin color and the furniture looked very expensive. Mel threw the covers off and swung her legs to the edge of the bed. She looked down and froze when she saw what she was wearing. She had on a black negligee that barely brushed the beginning on her thighs.

"Where am I?" she whispered to herself as she stood and walked hesitantly around the bed.

Suddenly she heard a noise coming from what she guessed was the bathroom. She heard the shower turn on and before she could hide the door swung open.

"Good morning darling." a charming voice crooned as he walked over to her wearing only a towel around his waist. "I started the shower for you."

Mel could only stare at him with wide eyes. Her husband stood in front of her, Christian Shepard, only something was wrong. She glanced down at her left hand and didn't see her wedding ring. She hadn't taken it off once since she had gotten it back from Ben.

She looked back at Christian as he dropped his towel and began dressing for the day. Mel studied him trying to figure out what it was about him that seemed so different. All at once it hit her as he ran a comb through his hair. His hair. Her husband had pure silvery gray hair. The man in front of her was just beginning to show bits of gray.

Christian turned to her, "If you don't shake a leg darling you are going to be late for class."

Mel nodded absently and moved towards the bathroom door. "Christian?" she said tentativley.

"Yes darling?" he said turning his stell blue eyes to her.

"How old am I right now?" she asked.

Christian's smile faded a touch as he considered her question. It was obvious her age was something he didn't like to discuss. Finally he answered her, "Mel, you're twenty-one, you know that."

Mel had to grip the door frame to remain standing. She ignored Christian's questioning look and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Once shut inside away from Christian's eyes she sank to the floor. She was terrified as she considered the possibilities of what had happened. How was it possible that she was over ten years in the past? Mel closed her eyes and covered them with her hands. She wanted this to go away, right now.

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Both Keamy and Christian heard the scream.

"That was her!" Keamy stated. "Do you think it's already begun?"

"I don't know. She didn't sound too far off, let's go." Christian answered.

"They'll be moving her by now." Keamy said darkly.

"Then we should hurry."

They continued to race through the jungle, guns ready to shoot anyone who came in between them and Mel.

Mel's eyes shot open as a piercing scream came from her mouth. She looked around frantically, confused by the sight of trees.

"Christian?" she called wildly looking for her dark haired suitor.

She saw Ben bend over her and for a moment she didn't know who he was. Then everything came back to her.

"Where did you go Mel?" Ben asked gently.

Mel stared at him, "You know what just happened don't you?"

Ben gave a slight nod.

"You bastard, you want this to happen to me." she said.

"We need to move, now." Richard approached, "The entire jungle will have heard her scream."

Ben nodded and leaned closer to help Mel stand. She offered him her hand as her other whipped behind him and grabbed his gun. She took a step back and pointed it at him, loosening the safety as she did so.

"We're not going anywhere until you explain what the hell is going on Ben."

"I won't do that Mel." Ben said, eyeing the gun.

"You will and then you're going to tell me how to stop it."

"You tell me why I just blacked out and travelled back to when I was in college or I will shoot you." Mel threatened Ben.

"So you saw Christian. He must be her Constant." Ben said looking past her to talk to Richard. Ben was ignoring the gun in her hands all together.

Mel aimed for Ben's shoulder and moved up a fraction of an inch. He visibly flinched when she pulled the trigger. The bullet tore into the tree right behind him.

"Next time, I won't miss." Mel said.

"There may not be a next time Mel." Ben said seriously.

Losing her nerve Mel knelt in front of Ben, who sat on a large rock. "This is going to kill me isn't it?" she whispered finally beginning to understand Ben's double talk.

Ben nodded.

"Why?" she asked.

Ben sighed, "When the Tempest blew you were exposed to a rather large amount of electromagnetism. This is causing you to begin to bounce back and forth in time. If you're telling to truth about who you saw then I'm guessing you went back in time to your college days when you were having an affair with Christian Shepard."

Mel didn't like the accusing tone in his voice, "I didn't know he was married." she defended, "But why do I have to die? How do I make it stop?"

"You have to find your constant. One person who will anchor you both in the past and the present. If you don't find them, then your brain will begin to hemorage from the travel and you will die."

Mel looked off into the jungle, lost in her thoughts, "My father said he gave me two contants." she mulled.

"What?" Ben asked in surprise. "He did what?"

Mel smirked, "This is why you had Richard take me. You don't want me to connect with my constant, you want me to die. Why Ben?"

Bens eyes hardened, "Because you and your two paramores have caused enough chaos on my island. It is time for my take back my rightful place."

Mel laughed, "You can't be serious!" Mel braced her hand on Ben's knee so she wouldn't fall over from laughing so much, "You think he still wants you as leader? He gave up on you a long time ago."

Ben was silent.

"You don't know do you?" she wondered as she studied him.

"Why don't you enlighten me?" he spat.

Mel was slightly amused by his petty tone, "He's picked John. John is going to finally have a chance to fulfill his destiney. He is going to move the island. I can't believe Jacob didn't tell you."

"Of course he didn't tell me." Ben said shoving her hand away, "But that doesn't mean I didn't know. I was with John when he went into that cabin."

"Then why are we even having this discussion?" Mel said.

"John will not be the new leader." Ben said surely.

Mel fought the urge to laugh, "I know that Ben. I know that his task will cost him everything."

"My son will be the leader." Ben said suddenly.

Mel stood abruptly. She looked down at Ben and found he was completly serious.

"Mine and Sophie's son of course." he added. Mel slapped him across the face.

"You are truly a fool. How long are you going to be blinded by that silly woman and her illusions of grandeur?" Mel said in a rush. "I'm willing to bet that she is the one who told you that nonsense."

Ben's silence told her she was right.

Mel turned from Ben, his gun still hanging in her hand, "Tell me something Ben. Who are you out in the jungle with right now?"

There was a long pause before he answered, "You."

"Yes, and where is your wife?"

"I can't be sure, in the village I would guess."

Mel nodded, "Who is on your mind more, me or her?"

"Sophie, of course."

Mel looked at him over he shoulder, "Be honest."

"You." he said gruffly. "But only because you cause me so much strife."

"I thought as much. When are you going to understand Ben, that as long as I am around there will always be something between the two of us. I thought you had gotten over that but it seems you haven't."

"That is all the more reason to let you die." Ben said darkly.

"I know that you think it will, but it won't change anything Ben."

"I'm willing to find out." Ben whispered in a pained voice.

Mel closed her eyes and shook her head. They may have been crazy in love at one time but they had fallen out of it hard. They had messed each other up for good, there was no undoing that kind of damage.

Suddenly Mel heard the sweetest voice she'd ever heard, "Mel!" Keamy yelled crashing through the brush behind her.

"Keamy." she whispered, smiling as she began to turn around. Ben grabbed her and stopped her ripping the gun out of her hand in the process.

"Lets not ruin things." he said into her ear. He aimed over her shoulder and began shooting. He held her tightly to him so she couldn't turn around to see Keamy.

She heard a loud, angry yell and then Keamy curse. He had been hit.

"No!" she cried and fought harder against Ben.

"Richard, get her out of here!" Ben yelled.

Richard grabbed her roughly and began pulling her in the opposite direction of Keamy and Ben. She tried to fight against him but began to fell that same dizzy feeling from earlier.

"Please, not now." she whispered as she felt herself falling to the ground.

She was already gone when Richard threw her over his shoulder and carried her away from one of the two men who could save her.

It was getting to be dusk, and Oliver, Frank and Emma were approaching the village. She felt apprehensive; she had no idea what Sayid had planned and hoped all would go smoothly. More than anything, she needed to know that her baby was okay.

They came to the edge of the jungle. Oliver grabbed Emma roughly by the arms. "You will get your baby, and return to us immediately. Don't talk to anyone. If you tell them we're here, we'll kill you and both your boyfriends."

Emma heard a muffled rustling in the jungle. Suddenly two darts whizzed past her from opposite directions and hit Frank and Oliver. They immediately dropped their guns and fell over, completely paralyzed. Emma crouched by Oliver. "It looks like they already know you're here," she smirked, before rummaging through his pocket for the key to her handcuffs. She guessed they had been dosed with the same paralytic that Christian had used on her; if so, they would be out of commission for quite some time.

Sayid and Sawyer appeared from their hiding places and checked to make sure Frank and Oliver were knocked out. Satisfied that they were, Sawyer began to haul Frank away. Sayid walked over to Emma.

"Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

Emma shook her head. "They didn't hurt me." She gave Sayid the key and held up her hands. He released her from the cuffs and she flung them as far into the jungle as she could before wrapping her arms around Sayid and burying her face in his chest. "I'm just glad to be home."

"There's something I need to tell you," he said softly. Emma raised her eyes to his in alarm. "Desmond is very sick. Jack and Juliet cannot do anything for him. If we're lucky, Oliver will have vaccine in his backpack. We're pretty sure Oliver was the one that made him sick, but he also wanted Desmond alive for his research so he must have a cure for it. If it's not here, we might have to return to the Orchid for it."

In an instant Emma was rifling through Oliver's backpack. "Please have a vaccine," she whispered to herself. "Please save my baby!"

Emma rummaged through Oliver's bag and found a small case containing several vials of a yellow liquid, along with a syringe. The serial number on the vials looked familiar - she had seen the same number on medical supplies in the Orchid. Relieved, she held the case up for Sayid to see.

"No need to go to the Orchid, Sayid! We've got the vaccine right here!" she declared joyfully.

Sayid smiled warmly at her. "That's it exactly. Take it to Desmond right away. I'll take care of Oliver, and we'll meet back at the village."

"What are you going to do with him?" she asked with interest.

Sayid shrugged. "Tie him up, for now. Keep a close watch, until Jacob decides to allow death on this island again. That's all we can do to keep him from hurting more people."

"Speaking of hurting people," Emma frowned. "Do you think something happened to Zoe? Oliver seemed pretty keen to keep her in the Orchid - but why would he be here if she were still there?"

"I don't know," Sayid answered. "Once this paralytic wears off, we'll have plenty of questions for him." He kicked Oliver roughly in the stomach. Oliver blinked, but was unable to move or respond. Emma could tell he was seething inside. "Go to Desmond," Sayid reminded her gently. "He needs you."

Emma flung her arms around Sayid. "I love you, Sayid." she whispered in his ear before running towards the village with the case of vaccine.

This time when Mel woke up she was ready. She jumped to her feet and took and swing at the person standing above her. She ended up punching Richard square in the jaw and he fell to the ground with a satisfying thud.

Mel glanced around and didn't see Ben. She ran her hand over her face to wipe away her tears. It pained her to think of how Keamy must have felt when she screamed her answer to his proposal. She needed to find him, now.

She reached down and grabbed Richard's gun from the ground and as she was standing she felt a strong hand wrap around her ankle. She turned to see Richard glaring up at her, blood running from his mouth.

"Bitch." he muttered.

Mel quirked an eyebrow, "You've called me that before. You remember, when you took me to the Temple and tried to sacrifice me to the island."

"So?" he spat.

Mel chuckled, "Did you really think that Ben was going to let me die? That may be his plan but when it comes down to it, he won't be able to follow through. He couldn't then and he won't now."

Richard smiled evily, "He has changed. He'll follow through with the plan."

Mel shook her head, "I guess you won't be around to find out will you?" she said as she shot him twice in the chest. Richard's grip on her ankle slackened as he fell back onto the ground, his eyes lifeless.

"Please stay dead." Mel said as she turned her back on him and walked away.

Mel staggered through the jungle and grabbed a nearby tree to keep from falling down. The episodes were coming closer together now. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

When she opened them she was standing in front of Christian. He raised his hand to her cheek and wiped a tear from her face.

"I'm sorry darling but this is how it has to be." he told her.

Mel looked up at him in confusion, "How what has to be?"

"Don't make me go through it again Melody." Christian sighed. "We had a good time together, that is what counts right?"

Suddenly Mel understood what he was talking about. "You're leaving me?" she asked.

Christian squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose, "You act like you haven't heard anything I've been saying."

Mel thought back to when this had happened for the first time. She had been in love with Christian but it didn't stop him from abandoning her, from treating her like she was just some silly college girl who had fallen for the older man.

"You can't leave!" Mel panicked and grabbed his hand. If Christian wasn't in her life in the past then she would die on the island.

"I must." he said softly and kissed her lips.

"Please stay." she whispered.

"Goodbye darling." Christian said as he turned from her and walked away.

Mel knew it was coming this time as she sank to the ground. The tears in her eyes blurred her vision before everything went black.