walkwithheroes | Lost fic- "His Girl" (Reply)

Title: His Girl

Rated: PG

Spoilers: 2.1-2.3

Author’s Note: Takes place before ‘Child in Bloom’, but can be read as a stand alone. Mentions of the Charlie and Claire relationship, which is why I posted it at their live journal.

Disclaimer: Don’t own it. It’s why it’s called ‘fan fiction’

She didn’t tell him her name, until she left him…

He had found her in the middle of the jungle. She had just been standing there, looking up and listening to sounds he could never hear. He’d raised his gun and demanded her name; she hadn’t given it. He’d taken her back to the hatch, to question her about the world. Was it still there?

She told him she didn’t know. She told him she’d never even seen the world. What did it look like? She could ask someone for him. Ethan Rom or an Other, maybe. Either way, she could ask someone if the world was still there. And it seemed like she might go that way, until she saw the DHARMA logo and the books. She destroyed as many of the logos as she dared and then made way to the books.

He told her his name was Desmond and began asking her questions. For her part, the girl-and she was a girl, sixteen at best-read the books and ignored the important questions. When she spoke, it was usually about the books. She asked him where they were from and if he had extra copies.

“Who are you? Can you at least answer me that?”

The girl glanced up at him over the top of the book she was currently reading. “She is her. He is him.”

“Yes, but what’s your name?” Desmond pressed.

The girl shrugged lightly. “Make one up, Desmond.” She giggled softly. “Pretty names.”

Yes, the girl was an odd one. But, after hours of conversation, Desmond found her to be highly intelligent and a lover of ballet. She never told him her name, but it didn’t matter. Desmond had company and someone to actually talk to. She never pressed the button, but she did do other things for him.

She cooked foods he’d never heard of. She’d play board games with him. She’d read to him. She’s sing in fourteen different languages for him. She made him remember what it was like to be around another person. What it was like to feel.

Of course, she also did strange things. Sometimes he’d find her in the middle of the hatch, just staring off into space. She’d say things, odd and awful things. Like, “Ethan’s gone and taken them, he has. The little angel and the fallen god.” Or, “Ethan’s gone and hung the fallen god. Swing, swing.” Then, she’d laugh hysterically and start to cry. Desmond would always hold her when she did things like that.

She was crazy, but then maybe so was he. Maybe he had just made her up out of thin air? He had to test that important theory. So, he kissed her and she kissed him back. She had laughed and said that he touched her. She said that no one had touched her for years. She asked him to please touch her again. Who was he-a guy that hadn’t even seen a woman for years-to say no? Desmond touched her. He whispered ‘sweet angel’ into her ear as he touched her.

He called her ‘my life’ when he slipped off her clothes a week later.

She started screaming on night. She screamed and begging Desmond to make her stop bleeding. She wasn’t bleeding, just clawing at her stomach. He grabbed her from behind and forced her arms against her chest. “Stop, shush.” He whispered sweet and gentle words into her ears while she cried that the fallen god had killed Ethan.

She cried that the ones from the front had let him kill Ethan. She cried that the Others wouldn’t care, but some others would be so mad. She said it wasn’t fair, that Ethan was just sick; she said she and the island had done it. It was all her fault.

Desmond made her tea and read out loud from the books until she fell asleep in his lap. He only removed her when it was time to push the bloody button.

It was starting to become perfect. Desmond would push the button every 108 minutes, but for the other 107 minutes, he was with his girl. They’d read together. He’d watch her dance through the hatch, signing a song in French to herself. She’d cook for him. And at night, at night he’d hold her close and only sometimes pretend she was someone else; someone he had lost a long time ago.

After a while, Desmond even forgot that she spoke of hunters and doctors and imposters. He forgot that he didn’t even know her real name.

“After nearly seven weeks, tribal warfare will come.” She told him quietly one afternoon, or at least he thought it was afternoon. She had been curled up on a bed and reading some poetry to herself. Desmond had nearly forgotten she was there. “Just a bit longer.” Her eyes drifted to something on the shelves. “I like that you give me the shots.”

“Yeah.” He wasn’t really paying close attention to her, after all the girl had a way of saying strange things that meant-as far as he could tell-nothing. He typed the numbers and pressed. 108 more minutes of a saved world.

“When you leave, bring lots with you. I’ll be somewhere and I’ll find you.” She smiled proudly. “I can find anyone on this island.”

“Yeah? You…you’re leaving?” Desmond looked panicky when he asked that question. He just couldn’t be alone, again.

She giggled. “I’ll find you!” Desmond raised an eyebrow and she waved a dismissive hand. “Doesn’t matter.” She uncurled herself from the chair and started dancing around the place. “Doesn’t matter. Nothing matters at the end of it all.”

“They’ve got this idea and it’s really bad. But, the Others are going out and they…they’ve got the wrong information.” Desmond found her by the records and books, hurrying to write something in one of the books that he hardly read. “Can’t see until she says!” The girl pushed him away. “It isn’t time for you to see what I see. Isn‘t time. All we have is time. And they‘re getting louder. Shut up!” She giggled softly. “You always get scars for the ones you love.” She gave Desmond an anger glare. “You don’t have scars for me, do you, Desmond?”

For his part, Desmond was completely at a loss for what to say.

When he awoke-one minute before he had to type the numbers in-she was gone. The only way he knew that she had been there, was the missing shots and the missing combat boots. She did leave one thing, the book she had been writing in early was beside the computer, opened to the last page. She had written him a note:

Desmond-

They’re coming. If things get bad or if you need me, met me at the top of this world.

-Alex

A day later, Jack, Locke, and Kate came down into the hatch. That day, after the computer was nearly broken, Desmond grabbed the book, shots, supplies, and headed straight for the highest spot on the island; he had a girl to get to.