Family (Fan Fic)

OMG lozzyjay love the valentine pics!

Thanks! I'll try to get a little more up today.

Here's today's portion, and remember, feedback is always appreciated.

When Annie walked in after giving them almost a half-hour together, she found Benji asleep, with his father next to him. She thought about waking Ben up and bringing him into her room, but decided to let him be. She walked over and took off Benji’s glasses, and kissed Ben. She wondered what the two of them would be like around each other in the morning.

Ben woke up at four. He briefly considered getting up and going to Annie’s room, but fell asleep before he could finish his thought.

The next time he woke up was at seven. Summer sun shone through the windows. Benji was still asleep. Ben sat up and stroked Benji’s hair. By his count, he was already a better father to this boy than his father was to him. After all, his father certainly didn’t love him at all. Ben, however, already loved Benji. Ben kissed Benji on the cheek.

He got up, planning on taking a shower. He walked into Annie’s room. She was sleeping. Ben kissed her, then went through his duffel bag, searching for clothes.

“Ben,” Annie said sleepily, “come over here.”

Ben walked over to Annie. She put her hands around his neck and pulled him onto the bed. “Your breath is great in the morning,” Annie murmured between kisses.

“Yours is too,” Ben said.

They fell back asleep.

When Ben and Annie walked into the kitchen at nine, Benji was sitting at the round table, eating cereal in his pajamas.

“Morning, Benji,” Annie greeted cheerily.

Ben sat down next to Benji. He hadn’t had a real conversation with him yet. He had no idea what to say. Annie passed him a cereal bowl. Ben looked at the cereal in Benji’s bowl, then found the box it came from and poured himself a bowlful.

“Milk?” Annie asked. “Oh, wait, I guess I forgot.”

Ben had never liked milk on his cereal. In the hatch, it was different. He was trying new things-Stephen King, as well as asking for milk.

Ben took his shower. Annie’s shower had excellent pressure. Very few people really appreciate showers, especially ones with good pressure. Ben Linus was one of those few. He stepped out of the shower and toweled off. Ben put on his fresh khakis and buttoned his clean blue striped shirts. Clean clothes were another thing Benjamin Linus appreciated greatly.

He walked into Annie’s room to drop his clothes in her laundry hamper. Annie walked in behind him. “Hey.” She kissed him. “I’m going grocery shopping now. Are you okay staying with Benji?”

“Sure.”

Annie hoped some time alone might get the two of them talking. She knew it was tough to get Benji talking; he was almost as quiet as his father was at age twelve. Some days Annie had found it difficult to get even two words out of Ben, and he had talked more with Annie than anyone else back then.

Annie went to find her son.

“Benji?” She asked, opening the door of his room. Benji was lying down on his bed, wearing khaki shorts and a black t-shirt, and reading a small paperback book. Frank the rabbit sat next to him, nibbling a carrot.

“Yes?” He asked, his bespectacled blue eyes peering at her from over the top of his book.

“I’m going to the grocery store soon and I wanted to make sure you were okay staying here with your father.”

Benji nodded.

“Okay, I’ll be back in an hour.”


After Annie left, Ben wasn’t sure of what to do. He almost always had something that needed doing. Today he had nothing. He walked past Benji’s room, where Benji was reading. Ben never liked being interrupted while he was reading, so he just walked by.

Ben wondered if this was the right move. Maybe Benji felt ignored by Ben just walking by. If Benji wanted his father, would he come and talk to him, or wait for his father to come to him? Ben decided to take a chance.

Ben walked back to Benji’s room and stood at the doorway. “Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” Benji replied, looking up at his father.

“What book are you reading?” Ben asked.

“The Perks of being a Wallflower.” Benji paused. His father probably wanted to do something with him, and Benji knew just what to suggest. “I was just about to clean Frank’s cage. If you want to help, I’d be more than happy to let you.”

Ben smiled at him. “Trying to hand off all your work to me?” He joked.

Benji smiled back.



When Annie got back an hour later, she saw her plan had worked. Ben and Benji were sitting in the living room, with Frank hopping around on the floor. She brought in the bags full of groceries and set them on the table, smiling.


At dinner that night, you would’ve thought that they were a family that had lived with each other their whole lives. The kind of family that doesn’t fight, though.

After dessert, which was lemon bars that Annie had made that afternoon, the small family sat down in the living room to watch Donnie Darko, Annie on one side, Ben on the other, Benji in the middle. After the first five minutes, Annie decided she needed popcorn, and returned three minutes later with a bowl full.

“Popcorn?” She asked Ben, as he was so fixated on the movie that the smell didn’t get his attention.

“Mom, shhhh! He’s never seen it before!” Benji scolded his mother. Ben smiled, thinking of all the times Annie had probably seen this movie.

About an hour through, Benji was struggling to stay awake. He gave into his battle of consciousness. He fell asleep, leaning against his father.

“He looks so cute, so innocent when he’s asleep. Kind of like you,” Annie said at the end of the movie.

“Should we wake him up?”

“I bet you could carry him up,” Annie said. “He’s pretty light.”

So Ben picked up Benji, and carried him upstairs, followed by Annie. Luckily, Benji was already in pajamas, so Ben just lay him on the bed, and pulled the blankets over him.

Ben took Benji’s glasses off and set them on his bedside table.

Thanks! I'll have more up later!

“Dad?” Benji asked, after Annie had gone upstairs.

“Yes?”

“Can you, um, tell me about…uhh…you?” Benji paused. “I mean, I barely knew enough really to identify you. Mom never really told me a lot, so…” Benji trailed off.

“Okay,” Ben said softly. It was a reasonable request.

Where to start? The moment of his birth, or meeting Annie? What to put in, what to leave out?

He took a deep breath and looked at Benji, who was sprawled out so that his feet were next to Ben, who sat at the opposite end of the couch from Benji’s head.

“My parents, your grandparents, went for a hike. They lived in Portland, and it was one of their hobbies. My mother was seven months pregnant.” He took another deep breath. “It doesn’t seem that intelligent to take your seven month pregnant wife hiking, alone, with nobody around, does it?” He paused. “My mother went into labor by the side of the highway.”

Benji shifted his position so that his head lay in his father’s lap.

“My father yelled by the side of the road, and a car stopped. The man driving that car was Horace Goodspeed. My mother died right then, in that car, right after telling my father to name me Benjamin.

“So I grew up with my dad in suburban Portland. I went to public school. My dad worked a lot; he had to, his jobs didn’t pay much. He never went to college and barely graduated high school.

“I was quiet. The kids at school thought I was stupid. Sometimes they’d beat me up. I learned how to take a punch, however, so there was a bright side,” Ben said sarcastically.

“My dad got laid off, and had a tough time finding work. However, around that time he was contacted by Horace Goodspeed, who was looking for workers to join the Dharma Initiative, which was some kind of utopian community for scientists to live and work at. It was located on an island.

“My dad accepted the job. We boarded a submarine and left for the island. That submarine ride was the worst. I had no idea where I was going, no idea of what was going to happen, and I felt incredibly nauseous.

“I met Horace when we got off the submarine. Horace took an interest in me. He said it was okay I never talked, that I would when I had something to say. My father went to check us in. I remember standing around, then hearing a girl’s voice. She was the first kid I had seen all day. She said her name was Annie, and offered me a candy bar.” Ben sighed. “My father was mad; his assignment was ‘work man’. He said we were leaving, and as we left, I looked over my shoulder at your mother, and I hoped that I’d see her again. And I did,” He added.

“So that was basically the only thing that had happened in your life so far that didn’t suck,” Benji murmured, barely awake.

“Yes, it was,” Ben said.

He smoothed out the almost-asleep Benji’s facecloth. It was only a matter of seconds before Ben himself was asleep.



“Benji bunny, it’s time to get up.”

Benji opened his eyes. His mother was standing over him. His father was sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast.

“I’ve got you a doctor appointment at ten, that’s in an hour, so we should be ready to leave in half an hour.” Annie picked up the thermometer. “I want to see if your fever’s come down at all.”

She stuck the thermometer in his ear. Benji, once again, winced. It beeped. “One-hundred three point seven,” Annie read off the thermometer. “Wow, I don’t think you’ve ever had a fever that high. How do you feel?”

Benji gave her a how-do-you-think-I-feel look. “Well, both my ears hurt, my head hurts, my throat hurts, I have a fever of one-hundred three point seven…”

“Okay, okay, I get it. Well, here, take some medicine, have some juice, and I’ll make you toast.”

Ben popped a piece of bread into the toaster. “You go take a shower. I’ll handle things,” He said to Annie.

Annie went to take her shower. Ben brought Benji the toast, as well as a glass of juice. Ben placed two small orange pills on the toast, then presented it with a flourish. Benji smiled weakly, then swallowed the pills with a gulp of juice.


Half an hour later, Benji and Annie scurried out the door. Annie ran back to give Ben a kiss.

When Annie and Benji returned an hour and a half later, Ben was sprawled out on the couch, an open bottle of Aspirin on the table.

“Not you too!” Annie exclaimed.