Chapter 10.

Bali.

Outside a makeshift triage center

It was a short drive back to base, with Sun parking the van right in front of Jack. He walked around and opened the door for Claire, smiling as he saw his nephew safe and sound in her arms, "He looks so peaceful."

Smiling politely, Claire nodded, "Yes he is." She quickly began scouring the area for Kate, "Where is she?"

Jack turned and pointed behind him, "She's in there."

Claire handed Aaron to Jack and rushed into the small trailer, made eye contact with Kate and ran even faster towards her. She paused as she saw Kate all bandaged up, "Are you okay?"

Kate looked down at her thigh and laughed, "Don't worry about that. I'm fine. Where's Aaron?"

"He's with Sun and Jack, he's fine." Claire smiled and gave Kate a big warm hug, "We have him back and we're never going to lose him again." It didn't take long for the hug to turn into a kiss as the two women tried to make up for lost time

Sun walked in and cleared her throat, "You have to get on a plane now. The people I work for want your son as much as Rahim and every other government agency in the world. I have a private jet waiting to take you back to LA."

"Now?" Claire asked as she got to her feet.

"Yes now." Sun replied.

"Where is my father?"

"He's in custody right now. I'll do what I can to see that he's not detained for long, but he does have a lot of explaining to do. He has taken a sample of Aaron's DNA and is doing a test on it now." Sun said calmly, before her face turned deadly serious, "I have to tell you that if that test comes back positive you won't be leaving with Aaron."

"What? You can't do that. I thought you were on our side?"

"I am, but everyone knows that if Aaron possesses the same DNA as the other killing machines, he can't be left alone. You know that to, deep down. Do you want him killing all his friends at school? Do you want him to kill Kate? I know this is a horrible situation for both of you, but let's wait and see what your father finds out." Sun turned and walked out of the small building.

Claire turned to Kate, "I can't lose Aaron again. I don't care what the risks are, I won't let him be turned into some lab rat."

"Whatever you want to do I'm with you." Kate said, holding Claire close.

"I want to get on that jet right now, just you and me and Aaron." Claire leaned in and hugged Kate again, "Can you fly it?"

"I'd rather we use their pilot, but either way I'll get us out of here." Kate whispered, enjoying another embrace with Claire.

"I'm going to get Aaron and then look for that plane." Claire kissed Kate passionately, squeezing her tightly, not wanting to let go, but knowing she had to. She slowly pulled away from Kate's soft sweet lips, "I'll be waiting for you. Are you sure you can move with your leg like that?"

"Nothing will keep me away from you." Kate said as she pulled Claire in for yet another kiss. "Just get Aaron and we'll get out of here and we'll continue our life together."

Claire smiled, backing up slowly, not wanting to take her eyes off Kate. Finally, as she got to the doorway, she turned around and started searching for Jack. Off to her right she saw him holding Aaron in his arms and she walked briskly towards him, "Hi there. How's he doing?"

"He's been sleeping most of the time. We're just waiting for the results of the DNA test."

"Okay, well I'll take him now." Claire said with a smile, happily putting Aaron back in her arms. "I'm going to go for a walk, let me know when the results are back."

"I will." Jack said with a nod.

Claire waved and headed towards the mostly abandon runway. With only a couple planes to choose from, Claire walked towards the Challenger 850 and knew it was the right one.

With an armed guard patrolling the area, Claire backed up a few steps and pulled out her cell phone. She called Kate.

Kate tapped her on the shoulder, "I'm right here."

Smiling at Kate, she pointed to the guard, "What are we going to do? You can't kill him, he's one of us."

"You don't have to kill someone to immobilize them." Kate smiled, "Wait here. I'll take care of the guard and we'll be on our way."

Claire knew she could trust Kate and quickly snuck behind the front of the large jet. She held Aaron close and watched as Kate moved in behind the guard. Just like she'd seen on many different occasions before Claire watched in awe as Kate methodically disarmed and immobilized the guard before flashing her cute little smile at her. Once she saw that it was safe, Claire rushed towards Kate, "Sometimes you scare me with how good you are at this spy stuff."

Kate put a frown on as Claire walked towards her, "Are you saying you don't find that sexy anymore?"

"Okay, maybe a little," Claire grinned, "but I'll be happy when you don't have to do that anymore."

"Soon Claire, very soon." Kate nodded, leaning in and kissing Claire softly as Aaron smiled his approval, "Now let's get on this plane and get back to the rest of our lives."

They hurried towards the plane, stopping as the side door opened and the stairs slid down towards them. When they hit the ground, Kate put her hand on Claire's shoulder, "Let me check it out first." She walked up the stairs, pulled out her gun and stepped inside.

"Put that away." Christian said from his seat, "Get Claire up here and let's get going."

Kate moved slowly towards Christian, gun in hand, looking cautiously around the seemingly empty plane, "Not so fast. What are you doing here?"

"We don't have time for this. Sun put me here. I need to do a DNA test on Aaron before she'll okay the flight. If you don't put that gun away and let me do my job everything you've worked for is going to be lost."

Moving in closer, Kate spotted the handcuffs on Christian's wrists, "I see she doesn't trust you anymore than I do. What happened to Rahim?"

"I don't know. I think he was shot during the raid, but I don't know if he's alive or dead. He's not your concern right now, so bring Claire up here."

"Just how are you going to perform this test like that?"

"You didn't think Sun would leave me here alone did you?" Christian said, turning around as Sayid and Juliet stepped forward.

Kate smiled at Sayid and gave him a warm hug and then did the same with Juliet, "I'm glad you two are here."

"Christian's right about one thing, we need to moving." Juliet said, sliding past Kate and hurrying to the front of the plane, "I just talked to Sun and she said Interpol is sending a team to relieve her of her duties, so we have to take off now."

Claire paused halfway up the stairs when she saw Juliet looking down at her, but relaxed when Kate stood beside her and waved her up. Feeling a sense of relief at seeing Kate again, Claire marched up the stairs and wrapped her arms around her, "What's going on?"

"Your father is here. He needs to do a test on Aaron."

"No. I'm not letting anyone take him away from us. Not now. We just got him back."

Kate pulled Claire away from the others, stepping into the bathroom for some privacy, "I don't like this anymore than you do, but we need to know what we're up against."

Christian stood up, "Claire. Claire. It's going to be fine. The odds of Aaron having the DNA pattern the others did is minimal at best. We still don't know if it will even work the same on humans."

Claire's eyes lit up at the sound of her father's voice and she stormed out of the bathroom until she made eye contact with him. "Then just leave him alone. He's been through so much already. As you can see, he's fine. He's just a normal little boy."

"I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it was important. We need to keep track of the DNA. Regardless of the outcome and regardless of what a horrible situation this is for everyone, Aaron is our only source of information right now. This is a painless test, a simple swab of his mouth. That's all."

Unsure of what to do or say, Claire looked over at Kate, "I don't know what to do. It doesn't feel right."

Kate smiled and walked over and put her hands on Claire's shoulders, "I think it's okay to do this. I'm going to believe that Aaron is never going to be affected by this DNA, but in the future this information could help save lives."

"Okay, but nobody is taking Aaron anywhere. Is that clear?" Claire asked as she glared at everyone in the plane.

Christian stepped towards Claire with a small carrying case in his hands, but as he tried to open it his handcuffs got all tangled up, "Could someone please remove these so I can do the test properly?"

Juliet took the bag from Christian and pushed him down on the nearest seat, "It's a simple swab, I think I can handle this."

"You're nothing more than glorified nurse, you don't know how to handle DNA." Christian said with a heaping helping of disdain, "Where's John's team anyway? He said he'd have someone here so we could do the test in the air."

"Everything is taken care of." Sayid said calmly, "There's no real for him to be awake for this whole trip, give him a sedative."

"Wait." Christian yelled as he saw Juliet open a medical bag of her own, "You don't have to do that. I have information you need."

"Don't listen to him." Sayid warned, "He's been saying that since we caught onto what he was doing."

"No, I know something that I haven't told anyone. I know who Rahim is working for."

Kate pushed Sayid out of the way and put a gun to Christian's head, "Tell me who it is."

Claire rushed over and pushed the gun down to Kate's side. "Stop. He's still my father."

"He gave up that right the second he allowed this to happen to Aaron." Kate lowered her weapon slightly, but kept it pushed against Christian's chest while she turned to Claire, "If there's someone else out there then we need to know about it. We aren't safe until everyone connected to this is either dead or in jail."

"Fine, but I don't want you doing it. Let Sayid handle this." Claire turned away from Claire and looked directly at her father, "Don't play games with Aaron's life. If you ever want me to talk to you again you better tell us who's behind all this."

"Claire, it's not that simple. I think John already knows, so maybe ask him why he hasn't told you yet."

"That's a lie." Kate said, pushing her gun up against Christian's temple, "What is wrong with you? How can play with your daughter's life like this and your grandson? What kind of man are you?"

Claire pulled Kate's hand away from her father, "You are not going to kill him." After handing Aaron to Juliet, Claire spun around and got between Kate and her father. She grabbed a needle from Juliet's purse and held it out for her father to see, "Kate's right, you are only out for yourself, but it's time you told the truth. Who is Rahim working for?"

"Claire, you don't want to do this. I'm not the enemy." Christian flinched as Claire pushed the needle against his arm, "Fine, but it won't help, he's untouchable."

"Nobody is untouchable." Sayid said sharply.

"He's as close they come." Christian said boldly, "You can thank Kate for him being so diligent in his pursuit of you and Aaron."

"What is he talking about?" Claire asked, looking at everyone on the plane.

Kate turned to Sayid, "Is he telling the truth? Do you know anything about this?"

"I can say we have no concrete evidence as to his identity, we have been investigating some reports that Rahim has been in communications with a third party."

As everyone began talking at once, a voice came over the intercom, "This is your pilot speaking. We are getting ready to take off. Please get into your seats, buckle up and I'll fly you back home."

"Is that Frank?" Kate asked.

Sayid nodded, "Yes, he's the best there is."

Kate smiled and helped Claire to her seat, making sure both her and Aaron were safe and secure before moving across the aisle and sitting down beside Sayid. Juliet secured Christian in place before buckling herself in.

With everyone in their seats the large jet gathering speed as it moved down the deserted runway until it ascended into the sky. After some moderate turbulence, the plane settled down and as everyone let out a sigh of relief the TV monitor opened up above their heads.

A visual of a man in a black hood appeared behind a large metal panel. "Greetings all. I am sending this message to anyone and everyone associated with the child known as Aaron, son of Claire. You may have won the battle but this war is not over until I have that child. While you have weakened my inner circle, it won't last for long and soon you will feel the full wrath of my powers. Enjoy your time, but know it's short. We will meet again." Moments after the message came to an end, the lights in the plane went out and a colorless gas filled the cabin, knocking everyone out cold in a flash.

It was hours later when Frank landed the jet at a small landing strip just outside of Las Vegas. He stepped out of his pilot's chair, unlocked the cockpit door and stepped out past the kitchen and into the passenger area, stopping in his tracks at the lifeless bodies in front of him.

He rushed over and shook Sayid by the shoulders, calling out his name repeatedly as he checked for a pulse. After realizing Sayid was breathing, he continued to check on the others until one by one he had woken everyone up.

When he moved to Christian who was slumped over in his seat, he noticed blood at his feet and called everyone over. He lifted Christian up to find a knife stuck in his chest, much to the horror of Claire.

Kate quickly grabbed Claire and held her close as Juliet and Sayid moved towards Christian. After looking him over Juliet stepped back, "He's been dead for hours. What the hell happened here? Last thing I remember was getting into my seat."

"That's all I remember." Sayid said, still shaking the cobwebs loose, "We were in the air, so whoever did could still be on the plane."

"He was going to tell us who Rahim was working for." Kate said, trying to hold in her anger, "Someone didn't want him talking. We need to search this plane before we leave."

Frank stepped forward as Kate began looking at him, "I was flying the plane the whole time. I didn't kill him. I don't even know him. I knew of him, but I'm not a killer."

"You're the only who wasn't unconscious." Kate said, still holding onto Claire tightly.

"How do you know?" Frank shot back, "Whoever did this could've been faking they were asleep."

Kate looked at Sayid and Juliet but quickly turned back to Frank, "I trust them, but I don't know you well enough to trust you. So you won't mind coming with us will you?"

Frank smiled and put his thumbs up, "Hey, I was planning on meeting up with John anyway, so I'll be happy to come."

Juliet removed Christian's wallet and some papers from inside his jacket pocket, while Sayid picked up his briefcase from the floor. He sat it down on a seat beside him, opened it and let out a sigh as he saw it was empty, "Who brought him here? Sun?"

Claire stepped away from Kate, "She didn't say anything to me about, but she would've been one of the last people to see him. He was with Rahim when we raided their warehouse, but I don't think it was her."

"Frank, was Christian on the plane you arrived?" Sayid asked as he continued to look around the plane.

"John told me to be in the cockpit and make sure it was secure and not to come out until we landed. That's what I did." Frank said calmly.

Kate took Claire's hand and led her off the plane, stopping as they reached the ground, "I'm so sorry about your father."

"I can't believe someone we know did this. Why?"

"I don't know, but we'll find out who did this and they will pay. Right now, I want to get you somewhere safe." Kate smiled at Aaron as he opened his eyes, before smiling up at Claire, "John has a place lined up for us in Texas and that's exactly where we're going."

"I have to tell Jack about our father." Claire said, still shaken by everything she'd just seen, "We don't know if there's more people after Aaron. How can we just leave?"

"Claire, we are never going to be free of all this, because Aaron is the only living human who has this DNA inside him. At best we've interrupted things for Rahim and his people, but we can't spend forever looking over our shoulder, because there's always going to be someone watching, waiting, so we have to get back to living our lives again." Kate held Claire close, "Trust me on this okay? John will make sure we are safe, as safe as we can be, but the only way to be certain is to live in a government controlled facility, where they can monitor Aaron 24/7, but in order for that to happen Aaron loses his freedom forever. They'll have to watch him his whole life to find out if he ever exhibits any of those symptoms."

"I don't like that either, but I'm not sure I can ever relax knowing he's always going to be in danger." Claire said, "Do you really think we'll be able to live the life we had planned? If you think we'll be safe then I'll go."

"There are no guarantees, but I want us to live a life where Aaron isn't hooked up to machines all day long. I want us to be able to go to the park together, to be able to play in backyard with Aaron and not have 10 security guards and cameras watching our every move."

"Okay, I want that to, so let's go."

"I need to call Sun one last time and I will let you talk to Jack before I'm done." Kate waited until Sayid had stepped off the plane before she moved away from Claire. Once she was for enough away, she pulled out her cell phone and called Sun.

"Kate, what happened on that plane?" Sun asked as she pulled her car off to the side of the road.

"Someone killed Christian." Kate replied bluntly, "I think he knew there was someone higher up than Rahim."

"How come nobody saw it happen?"

"They used some kind of gas to knock us out. He was dead when we landed. The only people on the plane were me, Claire, Juliet, Sayid and Frank. I can't believe one of them killed him. If they did, that means they are working for the enemy. Frank is the only one I don't know well, so he's my suspect."

"I'll do a deeper background check on all three of them, but what about Claire?" Sun asked, flipping through some documents in the passenger seat, "She was mad at her father for what he'd done, do you think it's possible she could've killed him?"

"No." Kate replied instantly, "Besides, she had no time to set up the gas on the plane. Whoever did this planned it in advance. I need to know if I can trust Sayid and Juliet. I'm going to call John now and make sure everything is set up in Texas, but I want to be kept informed of any new developments, okay?"

"Of course." Sun nodded, "You just take care of Claire and that little boy and I'll take care of the rest."

"Thank you." Kate said, relieved that she could relax, even if just for a moment. She then pushed John's name on her cell phone and waited for a reply.

"Hi Kate." John said calmly, "Are you back in LA?"

"Yes, but we have more problems." Kate said, keeping her head on a swivel as she continued, "Christian is dead and I don't know who killed him. It was either Sayid, Juliet or Frank, so you tell me which one of them is a traitor."

"I have some rather troubling information to pass on. Charlotte has given us a name of someone she says is higher up than Rahim, but still not the boss. It's someone from the island. Someone we thought was dead. Charlie Pace." John said

"What? No way." Kate said, not wanting to believe what she was hearing, "Charlie never did anything to hurt Claire. They were friends. I can't believe this. Do you have any proof?"

"I've been doing a lot of research in the last 24 hours and there have been sightings of Charlie in LA, Bali and in Russia. I believe he is alive."

"But why? Who's behind all this?"

"We all know Charlie is an addict. If he needed cash there's no telling what he would do." John said bluntly, "When I did a more thorough background check on Charlie I discovered that much of his history for the last few months before he boarded flight 815 had been erased or altered. What really gave it away was his bank account. Starting 6 months before the crash, he received $25K, each month until his presumed death. He has to be using an alias now, but we haven't figured that out yet, but we will.

"That's not reassuring enough John." Kate said, "I thought this would be over when we stopped Rahim. I just want to spend my time with Claire and Aaron. Now I have to tell her that her friend might be responsible for all this?"

"I hate to suggest it, but you could leave that out for now. I want you both to have the life you deserve, but you have to realize that the whole world is going to find out about Aaron sooner or later and that makes him a target." John explained as he sipped his coffee, "I have people working on the DNA day and night and we will come up with a way to counter what's inside Aaron. He's fine now and you have to believe he's going to stay that way."

"I'm not worried about him; I'm worried about the nuts out there that don't care who they hurt to get their hands on him. Claire can't take much more of this and quite frankly neither can I." Kate said loudly, verbally showing her anger and frustration at the situation, "We'll go to Texas, but I want you to set up a new place for us somewhere else, somewhere that only you know about. I don't feel safe right now. I can't help wonder just how much information these people have on us. If Sayid or Juliet were feeding them everything we know, we're as good as dead."

"Let's not go there." John said sharply, "I will find out if either of them has betrayed us, but I have to believe there's another explanation. I don't trust anyone and don't leave anything to chance. I've had people watching all of you since the day you started working for me and there's been nothing to suggest Sayid or Juliet have done anything wrong. Frank is a different, I know him personally. He doesn't work for me, so there is a chance he's been compromised. I'll look into it."

"Okay. How are we getting to Texas?"

"I have a charter bus in hangar 11 waiting for you. It's top of the line, fully furnished and I think you'll find it more than comfortable and very safe."

"Who's the driver?"

"Someone I trust. I have to go now. Charlotte is hungry." John said with a wicked grin as he waved at Charlotte in her tiny cell, "Call me if you need anything else."

"I will." Kate said with another relieved sigh. She put on a smile and walked back over to Claire, "Everything is ready if you are."

"I'm ready to get out of here. Let's go." Claire smiled, happily taking Kate's hand as she led the way through towards the hangar bay.

5 Years Later.

Austin, Texas.

Claire watched as Aaron walked out to the bus, stopping to frown at his mother as she followed him just a little too close, "Mom, I told you not to do that."

"I'm sorry, I can't help it." Claire said, holding in her smile as she backed up the requested paces, "I'll see you later. Have fun."

"Mom, it's school. It's not fun." Aaron scolded yet again, finally getting onto the crowded bus and sitting down with his best friend Kenny from down the street.

After the bus drove off Claire walked back into her house, closed the door and began searching for Kate, finding her on the phone yet again, "Couldn't that wait? Aaron just left."

Kate shook her head and smiled at Claire, "He told you not to go out and walk him to the bus again. He's getting too old to have his mom holding his hand all the time. Besides, I was getting the final details of Rahim's trial."

"Was he found guilty? How could he not be?"

"Yes, he was, but he's not going to prison. He's dead."

"What?" Claire asked as her eyes lit up in disbelief, "How?"

"Someone shot him as he left the courthouse." Kate said, waiting for Claire to react before continuing, "John said it was a sniper from way off into the distance, but he did the job, but the question is, why now? There's been no sightings of Charlie for a year now so I thought we were through with this."

"I can't deal with that right now." Claire snapped, walking over to the window, shaking her head as she let out a deep sigh, "We've finally had a whole year where we were just a regular family and I don't want to lose that. So if we have to do the whole new identity thing then I'm all for it. I can't put Aaron's life in danger again."

"We talked about this." Kate said as she put her arms around Claire, "A new life sounds good, but there's a lot of sacrifices that we'll have to make if we want this to work. Number one is we'll be cut off from all our friends and family. No more talks with Jack. No more contact with anyone from the island."

"Whatever it takes. I still can't believe this isn't over." Claire groaned, "Who else knows about Aaron?"

"I don't know, but we need to let John, Sayid and Sun take care of it." Kate said, holding Claire close, 'I'm going to take care of you and Aaron and that's all I care about right now."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear." Claire said with a happy smile, "Should I go get Aaron from school?"

"Hang on for a second." Kate said, "Let me call John back and he can start setting it up. It's going to take a while to do this. We're talking brand new identities, a new city, a full new backgrounds for all of us and we'll need to memorize it all before we can start our new life."

"I'm ready for it. I know I can do this." Claire said excitedly, hoping against hope that her nightmare would be over soon. "I still don't see how Aaron can be a threat. He's 10 years old now and there haven't been any signs of strange behaviour from him. So when is everyone going to see that he's not like those silly animals that killed people, he's going to live a long happy life and we are going to be with him every step of the way."

"I want that more than anything and I can't wait to watch him grow up and have the life he deserves. Doing it with you by my side is my dream come true. I hope you know that. I know our lives have been full of complications since the crash, but falling in love with you has been the best thing that's every happened to me and I want to love you until we are both old and gray."

Claire smiled and kissed Kate softly on the lips, "I can't think of anything I'd like better than to spend my life with you raising our son together."

Jeff Shuman Elementary School.

Aaron got up as the bell went off, following his classmates out the door, anxious to get outside for recess. He found his buddy Kenny and they walked out to the playground, climbing up and down the various pieces, sliding down the slide, generally having a great time.

As his feet touched the ground from the slide, he heard a bunch of kids screaming and yelling and saw two large men walking towards him. He knew that something was wrong and as the men pushed Kenny out of the way, sending the little boy stumbling backwards, Aaron got mad.

When all was said and done the two men lay motionless on the ground while Aaron walked calmly over and checked on his friend, "Are you okay?"

"I think so." Kenny said, wiping some blood off his hand, still in awe at what he'd just seen. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know. I don't remember." Aaron said, clutching his fists over and over again, "I saw them push you and I wanted to stop them and that's all I remember."

Kenny rushed over to Aaron, full of adrenaline at what he'd just seen. "No, you beat them up. You were punching and kicking and throwing them around like they were little babies. I want to learn how to do that."

"I need to go home." Aaron said calmly.

"School isn't over yet." Kenny said, still rubbing his knuckles as he bounced up and down beside Aaron, pretending to throw punches at him as he mimicked Aaron's movements to a tee.

As Kenny made contact with Aaron with a very soft punch, Aaron grabbed his head and stared at Kenny as if he were the enemy. Somehow, Aaron managed to control his anger, turning away from his friend. "I have to go. Bye Kenny." Aaron smiled and waved at Kenny before turning and running as fast as he could away from school and his home.

The End.

I am debating on writing a sequel, but I suppose that really depends on if anyone is interested in it. Let me know and thanks for reading.

Buffyfaith19