What Happens, Happens

Chapter 1
December 27, 2016

Benjamin Linus knelt by the grave of his adopted daughter and laid a small bouquet of wildflowers on it. "I'm sorry, Alex," he whispered softly.

A large but gentle hand came down on his shoulder. Hugo Reyes looked down at him, his deep brown eyes filled with concern.

"Dude, she knows," Hugo said.

Ben swallowed hard, and then said, "I just wish I could forgive myself. It should have been me, not her."

Hugo nodded. "I could, you know, let you talk to her..."

Ben's head whipped up, and his face hardened. "No," he said firmly. "No. I can't... Hugo, please don't ever suggest that again."

"Okay, Ben," Hugo said. "But it might do you some good."

Ben closed his eyes. "She would have been twenty-eight years old now" he said. "Such a beautiful girl..."

The two men said nothing for a long moment. A bird calling out from the jungle was the only thing that broke the silence.

Then a breeze stirred the trees, and a faint whispering sound filled the air. Hugo looked around, and his eyes widened a bit.

"Uh, I'll leave you with Alex for a bit, then," Hugo said. "There's somebody I need to talk to over there."

Ben said nothing as Hugo walked away. He was familiar enough with Hugo's tendency to speak to people who weren't visible to anyone else that he accepted it without comment.

Hugo crossed the central square of the former Dharma Initiative barracks, stopping by the edge of the jungle. "Dude," he said. "Long time."

"Hey, Hurley," the ghost of Michael Dawson answered from the shadows. "How's it going?"

"Same as always, dude. Where you been?"

"Looking out for my boy," Michael said. "Doing what I can for him."

"Is Walt okay?" Hurley asked.

Michael sighed. "I don't know why you sent him back, Hurley," he said. "Out there, in the world... It's not like it used to be. It's a dangerous place. Walt's okay, yeah, but he's been in some tight scrapes. You wouldn't believe..." He fixed his eyes on Hurley. "Things have gotten bad out there, man. Really bad."

"That's why I had to send him out there," Hugo said in a slightly apologetic voice. "I mean, who else could do it?"

"Yeah, well..." Michael shrugged. "Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks. For letting me leave the Island, I mean. It helped, being able to watch out for him."

"So," Hugo said, "how come you're back now?"

"Because Walt's on his way back," Michael said.

"Dude, no way!" A grin spread across Hugo's face.

"Yeah, he'll be here by tomorrow. He's got a boat – a small freighter. And he's bringing a lot of people with him."

"Awesome!" Then Hugo looked thoughtful. "I guess I ought to get to the lighthouse and guide them in, huh?"

"I think Walt has that covered," Michael said. "But it couldn't hurt."

"Okay, man," Hugo said. "Look, great seeing you again and all that, but I gotta go..."

"I'll be around," Michael said.

"Right," Hugo said. He turned and jogged back across the compound.

"Ben!" Hugo shouted, causing the kneeling man to look up suddenly. "Get everyone else together. Sorry to interrupt you, dude, but we have work to do."

August 30, 2010

Walt Lloyd stumbled on the rough planking of the dock, causing Hugo to reach out to steady him. "You okay, dude?" Hugo asked.

"Whoa," was all Walt was able to say in reply.

Hugo grinned. "Pretty wild, isn't it?"

Ben glanced back at the small De Havilland floatplane they had just exited, chuckling at the woman who was tying it to the dock. "Actually, I thought that was one of Cindy's better landings."

"Wasn't she just a stewardess?" Walt groaned.

"We got her some flying lessons," Hugo said. "Hey, it's not like we had a lot of people to choose from. There weren't too many people who survived – well, that's a long story."

Walt stopped at the end of the dock. "How many?" he asked.

"There's fifteen of us, altogether," Ben said. "Sixteen, now. Between Locke and Widmore, everyone else was killed."

"Hey, a few got away on the plane," Hugo countered.

"A few," Ben admitted.

Walt stared down at the sand of the beach, as if debating whether or not he really wanted to set foot on the island again. "So who's left, that I'd know?" he asked.

"Off the island?" Ben asked. "Let's see... Kate, Sawyer, Claire, Aaron, Richard... You didn't ever meet Desmond, did you?" Walt shook his head, and Ben continued, "That's all, then. On the island, besides myself, Hugo and Cindy, just Bernard and Rose."

"Who's Bernard?" Walt asked.

"Rose's husband," Hugo explained. "He didn't find his way back to the rest of us until after you left on the raft."

"Oh," Walt said. He continued staring down at the sand.

"Wait, dude," Hugo said with a smile on his face. "There is someone else we forgot to tell you about."

Walt looked up. "Who?"

Hugo turned towards the jungle, raised his fingers to his lips, and let out a piercing whistle. The far-off sound of a dog's bark followed a few seconds later.

Walt's eyes grew wide. "Vincent?" he said, hesitating. He took a step onto the beach.

Then, louder, he called out, "Vincent?"

A large yellow dog burst out of the jungle, running at full speed towards Walt. Walt ran towards the dog, and as they met, the dog jumped up into the air, knocking Walt down on the sand. Vincent gleefully licked the young man's face while Walt laughed.

Hugo grinned broadly, watching Walt and the dog roll around playfully in the sand. "Awesome," he whispered.

"Want me to go get everyone else together?" Ben asked quietly.

Hugo shook his head. "Not yet, dude," he said. "Let him have a minute here. He's got a lot of work ahead of him. No need to dump it all on him just yet."

December 27, 2016

"Everybody here?" Hugo asked.

"Everyone I could get," Ben answered. "Bernard and Rose... Well..."

"It's okay, dude," Hugo said. "I didn't expect they'd come."

"We're all here, then," Ben said.

They were gathered on a windswept plateau atop a high, rocky cliff. A stone tower rose into the sky behind Hugo, who stood next to a small campfire.

"Okay, then, all thirteen of us," Hugo said, looking around with a smile at the familiar faces of the Island's inhabitants. He stopped when his gaze fell upon Cindy, and he stared at her curiously. "Um," he said, hesitating, "unless... somebody... has something to tell us?"

Cindy stared at Hugo, and then turned to glance at the man next to her, who nodded. "Well," she began uncertainly, "I've only just realized it myself..." She smiled, and announced, "Lee and I... Well, we're having a baby!"

"Awesome!" Hugo proclaimed, as everyone else gathered round to congratulate them.

"Hugo?" Ben whispered softly into his ear. "Are you sure that's not going to be a problem?"

"Don't worry about it, dude," Hugo whispered back. "Took care of that a while back."

"I see," Ben murmured. "How..."

But Cindy interrupted him before he could complete his question. "And how the devil did you know?" she said to Hugo, though the smile on her face softened her challenging tone.

"Hey, you have to know things like that when you're the dude in charge," Hugo explained. "Anyway, thanks for bringing our lucky number. Now that all fourteen of us are here, there's something I have to tell you about. Walt's coming back. And he's bringing more people with him."

"What?" Cindy asked, at the same time that Ben asked, "How many?"

Hugo held up his hands, quieting everyone else. "I don't know how many yet, I just know it's a lot," he said. "They're on a boat, and they'll be here tomorrow. That's why we're here. We need to light the fire so that they can find there way here." He turned to one of the younger men in the crowd, and said, "Zack, you want to do the honors?"

The young man smiled, and ran inside the lighthouse. A moment later, he emerged with a torch, which he lit in the fire. Then, with a shout, he ran into the tower again. Soon after that, he waved down at them from the tower's top. In less than a minute, flames could be seen coming from the lighthouse, and a line of black smoke rose towards the heavens.

Hugo turned back to his people, and said, "Okay, we need to keep the fire going all night and into tomorrow morning. Don't let it go out until you see a big boat coming in. We're going to need more wood – Lee, can you take care of that? Okay then. Food, too – Vanessa, you got that? Oh, and somebody go tell Bernard and Rose that we're having a party up here. Maybe that will get them to join us."

As everyone headed off to get things ready, Ben sidled up to Hugo again. "I don't mean to be a wet blanket, Hugo, but have you given any thought to how we're going to feed the people Walt's bringing with him?"

"Dude, everything's going to work out," Hugo assured him. "Have a little faith."

"Faith," Ben echoed. He looked doubtful. "I remember having that once." He stared at the column of black smoke rising from the tower. "Faith," he whispered again, too softly for anyone else to hear.