Note: I'm not one to give up on anything easily. But sadly, I do have to put a merciful end to this story. When I started it, I planned on doing one-shot tales for each of the main characters – and then I talked myself into an ongoing, serialized fic I never should have taken on. Add the HUGE dip in traffic to LOST stories, and sadly… it just doesn't make sense to invest the hours and hours it takes to write a single chapter, let alone thirty more. That said, I wanted to wrap it up and give an idea where it all went in my head – and hopefully it's a fun farewell. I love LOST, miss it like crazy, and if you're reading this- I know you do, too.

Sydney Airport
September 22, 2007

"Do you want to grab anything from his diaper bag? Maybe stash what you need in the seat pouch?" Charlie handed it down to Claire in her seat, Aaron bleary-eyed and cuddling into her shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks, babe." She started picking through it as Charlie turned back to stowing their things in the overhead bin. "Do you think they'd slide his food in their fridge?"

Claire handed him up a little Tupperware container and kept digging.

"Don't see why not. Be right back."

She smiled as Charlie kissed the top of her head and made his way toward the galley. Then she caught the eye of the passenger just over the aisle; a man who'd been watching their domestic machinations with a smile.

"I have the best news all day." She gestured toward Aaron. "You are not sitting next to the screaming baby. There may be one on the flight, but it won't be my guy here."

"That is good news," he said. "Your baby looks like he's a travel veteran, ready to do the smartest thing possible on takeoff: Fall asleep."

"He has logged about a quarter million miles in just under three years. I'm Claire," she smiled and he nodded. "This one is Aaron. And his step-dad back there is…"

"Charlie Pace, I know. I try not to be the old dude who doesn't know the current bands." He reached over to shake her hand. "I'm John Locke. And I swear I won't be a bother either – 'cause I'm exhausted."

"Were you on holiday? Did you get to see much of Australia?" Claire sat back and pushed the diaper bag under the seat with her foot. "You Americans never seem to have much time off…

"I have a generous boss. Spent a month on a Walkabout, keeping a promise to myself."

"Ah, that's awesome," Charlie was back, and scooting past Claire to the set next to her, taking Aaron from her arms to hold him. "Charlie, this is John. He just did a Walkabout."

"We need to talk," Charlie nodded. "I keep threatening one myself, as often as we come here these days. She keeps saying she'll kill me if I try it."

"At the risk of annoying Claire I'll be glad to tell you how fantastic it was. But I think I'll hit the men's before we're taxiing. Maybe I can snag us some of those little bottles from the bar cart."

He unbuckled and started walking down the aisle, smiling at her slightly scandalized grin.

"Worth a try. They can't any more than take 'em back from me."

Densepar, Bali

"You're going to be very jealous of me in about eight seconds," Sayid said from where he was standing by the kitchen island deveining pounds of shrimp. Then he paused for effect. "I've met the people who took the house next door. The ones you are overly curious about."

Shannon's mouth popped open in a jealous moue, eyes squinting as she dropped her car keys and several bags of groceries on the counter, started unpacking them.

"All I ever see are their cars! It's killing me. What are they like? Mister and Misses Dullsville, right? We'll be hiding from them every time we run to the car…"

"Ohhh no," Sayid got that crafty little grin on his face that made Shannon want to jump him. "They are anything but dullsville. They are also not so much a …well, I'm not versed in the terminology but there are three of them in that particular couple."

"Hell, it's your wet dream. Two women shacking up with some guy?"

"So very wrong again, dear," Sayid said. "Two men. Both of the men are – and I say this as your entirely straight husband – an eyeful. She's lovely. Sharp. Mysterious, which is odd because she's from Iowa and very few mysterious girls spring forth from Iowa in my experience. We talked when we both went to get the mail."

"Is she pretty?" Shannon stepped behind him, asked it against his ear.

"Very. But somehow… I feel we'd only ever be platonic friends. Even if you ditched me for her boyfriends. Have you ever gotten that sense about someone right from the start?"

"Yes," Shannon said. "And I'm thrilled to hear it."

"I invited them to our little gathering tonight," Sayid handed her the bowl of shrimp tails and let her toss them in the disposal as he finished his task.

"I hope we picked up enough food." She looked over the stuff spread out on the counter.

"Of course we did. We always overcook. We were going to be six, now we'll be nine. There's enough for a dozen people, easily."

"What do they do? Our pretty, scandalous neighbors?" Shannon grabbed a knife to start chopping vegetables.

"One of the men is a doctor. A surgeon. The other does investment banking or import-export, she wasn't exactly clear. I'd guess he's where they got the money to semi-retire in paradise at a ridiculously young age. As for her… my impression is she pretty much just does them."

Shannon's sharp laugh followed by a giggle was full of 'you're so bad - and I love it.'

Denpasar, Bali again - just down the block

"I hope we put enough thought into the hostess gift," Penny looped her left arm through Desmond's right, and looked down at the box of pricey, exotic bath salts in her other hand.

"Are you kidding?" Desmond let go of the rolling suitcase to knock on the door. "After all she went through, anything related to kitchen or bath is a huge hit. She'll love it."

They saw the peephole in the door slide open, shut, and Desmond smiled at her checking first. Also not shocking, all considered.

"Oh, you did come, I was afraid you'd change your mind!" Danielle practically pulled them both in, waved them to the living room with hugs and smiles. "You must be exhausted, how long have you been traveling here?"

"Three days," Desmond noticed how well Rousseau looked, so polished and put together in slacks, blouse, and low-key jewelry; very French. "And there was a slight kerfuffle over docking the Searcher here, something about paperwork, but even with that it felt like a vacation after the last three years. Right?"

"Can you stay the whole month?"

"If you'll have us, absolutely," Penny settled in on the couch. "We've never been to Bali, either of us. I'd love to really get to know it.

"Then you will," Danielle headed for the kitchen. "Settle in, I'll open a bottle of wine. I hope you don't mind, a colleague of mine invited us to a dinner party tonight. Alex is out shopping, she'll join us there. She can't wait to see you again!"

Approaching Ngurah Rai Airport
18,000 feet

"John," Claire shook Locke's shoulder lightly. "John, wake up.

He barely moved, just popped an eye open and then rubbed them both. He'd been out. Now the plane looked unexpectedly busy; people buckling up, stewards collecting trays and drinks in a hurry.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing serious," Claire said. "Something to do with a stuck gauge you really don't want stuck on you. There's weather in Sydney, so… they're circling back and north. We'll be landing in Bali soon.

"That's one hell of a detour," Locke said as Claire walked by toward the ladies' room, giving his shoulder a squeeze in agreement

"Claire's brother lives in Bali," Charlie said from his seat, Aaron out like a light on his shoulder. "You should come stay with us - they've got tons of room. Beats sleeping on the floor in the airport.

"I'm not too proud to take you up on that," John searched around for his shoes. "These bones have been through enough. I need a bed."

It took two plus hours of shuffling slowly in line to get through customs. Charlie left the line with Aaron to search them up some coffee, and Claire and John kicked their luggage along foot by foot

"Sorry we're a little testy," She said

"I don't have any baseline of 'couples behavior' to compare you to," John said. "You seem perfectly happy to me."

"We're good. We are. Now. We … went through a couple of rough patches. Three of them. Not that you asked."

"God didn't make any perfect children, Claire," John shrugged, smiling softly.

"That's for sure. Me, I've got abandonment issues you could drive a truck through. I put Charlie through some things because of it. His issues? Well, there isn't enough time, even in this line. And then," she squinted, "I kind of fell in love with his brother."

"That rings a bell." John said. "I watch 'The Soup'."

"Aw, hell, yeah, that was… ouch." Claire said. "Happily, I didn't break up the band. And I know we'll always have to work at it, at being a couple. But we will."

"Oh thank goodness," John picked up their bags as the line lurched forward. "Looks like we might get there sometime tonight."

Shannon and Sayid's
Dinner for 12

"That's a gorgeous necklace," Penny eyed the pale blue gemstones strung on a thick silver chord around Kate's neck. Kate's fingers went to it.

"Thanks, it's a favorite of mine. A friend in New York had a gallery. She hosted a jewelry exhibition and..." She paused as Sawyer stepped up behind her, draped his arms around her waist, kissed the back of her head. "I couldn't resist it. It's sad – she disappeared. I heard she and her boyfriend are running from her ex-husband. You just never know what some people are dealing with."

"Too true," Penny said, looking over at where Desmond was standing with Danielle, catching up with Alex as she arrived. Alex was all smiles to see him, arms out for a hug.

A few yards away John, Charlie and Claire were sitting with drinks in hand, John finishing up his walkabout story.

"I'm confused," John said, catching sight of Sawyer wrapped around Kate. "Claire, I thought you said she's seeing your brother?"

"She is," Claire said. "It's…. complicated. "

"I guess so." John said.

"Don't get me wrong, I like Kate fine," Claire wrinkled her nose. "I like Sawyer for that matter, too. But I think they're thick as thieves. I don't buy he's an investment banker and I think she's the reason they had to skip New York and take up the expat life. I do believe we were all supposed to have met, though."

"Oh God, here she goes," Charlie said and John looked at him with a question mark in his expression. "Claire has a theory that because a bunch of us were supposed to meet – all because we were on the same, bad, flight three years ago."

"Three years ago… tonight?" John asked. "Oceanic 815? With the turbulence and the going in the wrong direction for a couple thousand miles? I was on that flight."

"Shut the damn door," Claire said. "Jack!"

"Yeah?" He popped out of the kitchen where he'd been pretty much since their arrival, helping Sayid and Shannon with the food.

"John, here, was on 815 with us. Now do you believe me?"

"Who? I'm sorry, I saw you earlier but I didn't get the chance to say …." Jack walked their way, an increasingly stunned look on his face. "Mr. Locke?"

"Doctor Shephard?" John stood and shook his hand.

"Don't tell me…." As much as Claire wanted to prove her point, she wasn't quite ready for this.

"Your brother is the reason I'm walking around the party instead of wheeling around it," John said.

Claire gave Jack an 'I freaking told you so' look.

"All right," Jack said. "It might be time to admit… you may have a point."

They had just settled around the dinner table when the sound of a text message hitting John's phone made him stop and look.

"Well what do you know?" he waved the phone, tapped something back into it. "My boss just got engaged. To the staff psychologist he hired for our company."

"Hugo? The guy I thought was your son?" Jack asked and John nodded, put away the phone.

"Congratulations to Hugo," Danielle said and they all toasted, smiling, clinking glasses, never suspecting they'd all be sitting together at the wedding in ten months' time.

"How about our host and hostesses' friends over there?" Charlie asked, pointing generally toward Penny, Desmond, Danielle and Alex.

Dessert was done, and they were sprawled in small groups, drinking and talking and enjoying the end of the evening.

"They weren't on the plane. Were we supposed to meet them?" Charlie asked.

"Yes," Claire said, smiling sweetly in lieu of actual evidence. "I'll pick their brains silly before we crash for the night. Bet you I can find the connection."

"Well sure," Charlie said. "Try hard enough and you can find a connection anywhere. Can't you, beautiful?"

~~fin~~