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Post by tom on Jun 22, 2008 17:44:23 GMT -5
Thomas flicked out his cell phone and dialed. He was at the Rooservelt just where Leandra had said Claire would be and the man behind the counter had kept telling him there was no Claire Littleton checked in.
She's a bloody flight 815 survivor, she shouldn't be that hard to find! Thomas dialed the number he'd been given by the woman he met in the park the other day and paced around the lobby of the hotel. He just wished that this could be over. He wished he could grab Claire, grab Aaron and take them back home where his mum could help them out. He might be a pathetic father figure but he had to do something.
Thomas went back up to the counter. "Look. Maybe she has a different name" he told the man in a clerk uniform hurridly, waiting for the phone in his hands to ring. "Are there any Australians registered with a baby? One that's only just been born?"
He put the phone up to his ear...
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Post by leandra on Jun 22, 2008 18:53:04 GMT -5
It was now the late morning and Leandra had been sitting on the edge of her bed in a complete daze after her earlier shock in the park. She tried desperately to remove it from her mind, but seeing a dead person wasn't something that could be removed easily. She felt herself shudder. Her head was heavy and sore and her heart felt bruised from the earlier thumping it had been doing.
She had to lie down and get some rest, as her body felt sore from the shaking she had been doing. She had physically made herself ill with everything that had happened earlier that morning. She would never say again she didn't believe in ghosts, because he sure as hell was a ghost, she knew Charlie died, Desmond told her and Desmond wouldn't lie. Actually Desmond was just who she needed to speak to about this. Because it had totally freaked her out.
She closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep, she was just drifting off when she heard the familiar tone of her cell phone. She groaned loudly, she couldn't move, she didn't want to move. She just wanted them to go away. But it continued to ring. "Bloody hell" she shouted and dragged herself off the bed and hunted through her bag for her cell phone. She flipped it open "Hello" she said in a very tired and shaky voice "Whose speaking?"
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Post by tom on Jun 22, 2008 18:57:45 GMT -5
"Oh..." Thomas grew wide eyed as she picked up the phone. "It's me... erm... Thomas. You know, from the park? The Brisbanite?" He gave a nervous chuckle and glared down the man in front of him who was shaking his head about Thomas' previous question. "Well I was just on my way to see if Claire was here... and..." Thomas took a deep breath, voice trembling. "I can't find her, Leandra. She's not checked in, they're saying. Can you come by?"
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Post by leandra on Jun 22, 2008 19:07:29 GMT -5
Leandra banged her head against the pillow when she heard the young man's voice on the other end of the phone. Oh god, she thought, why did he have to phone for her help today, after the morning she had she wasn't sure she'd be any use to anybody. But she snapped herself out of it, she couldn't be nasty to this young guy. She didn't have it in her to be nasty to him, because he was so sad in the park the other day. The park, the place she had met ghost Charlie. She shook her head and hardly taking in anything he had been saying down the phone to her.
She caught the bit about them saying Claire wasn't there and could she come by. She sighed gently and forced a smile on her face so her words would hopefully sound more happy than when she answered the call. "I'm on my way down" she said kindly, flipped the phone shut, threw on her shoes and locked the room door and made her way down to reception where she saw Thomas standing in a bit of a state.
"Right, what's going on?" she asked kindly, but still very shaken from her earlier experience, and it would no doubt show, since she never got the rest she had hoped for.
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Post by tom on Jun 22, 2008 19:15:42 GMT -5
To see her show up so fast, almost knocked Thomas off his feet. He wasn't aware she was at the hotel too. "I need to find Claire" he snapped his phone shut and put it in his pocket as she walked up to him. "If she's not here... then..." He raised his eyebrows and ran both his hands through his hair again.
"Maybe she's hiding Aaron away from me." He frowned at the realization of his assumption. Suddenly he started to pace and rant. "I knew it. I knew I shouldn't have come to L.A! I made my bed when I said I didn't want the bloody child and..." Thomas smacked his hand down on the front desk, startling the man behind it. "I'll be alright if she doesn't want to see me. I just need to find her" he turned to Leandra with a softer, more pleading voice now, worry in his eyes.
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Post by leandra on Jun 22, 2008 19:31:11 GMT -5
Of course he needed to find Claire, but was she up for the job just now. But the problems of this morning, she couldn't even begin to tell Thomas what was bothering her, although, he hadn't seemingly noticed that she was looking so out of it, so maybe she didn't look as bad as she thought. When he said Claire wasn't at the Roosevelt a look of confusion came across Leah's face.
"Well I did say some of them had checked out by now" she said softly. She looked at the receptionist and smiled at him, "Are you sure Claire Littleton is no longer checked in here" she said firmly, "Australian like me, blond and young baby?" she continued, again the receptionist said a clear no and looked away from her to carry on with his work.
"Damnit" she said softly no knowing what to do now. She could feel herself getting annoyed when he started speaking about Claire hiding Aaron away and how he shouldn't have come to Los Angeles. "Don't be silly" she said softly with a smile. "I don't think she's hiding Aaron away, she must have checked out" she continued with a weak smile. Her head was throbbing. She took her hands up and started rubbing at her temples.
"I'm not really sure where we go from here" she said quietly, of course all the newspapers saying how Claire and Jack were brother and sister, then maybe Jack was a good place to start, but where ever Claire was, would he even tell them once he knew who Thomas was. Jack was good with Leah on the Island, and was quite protective, and she could only imagine how protective he would be of Claire.
He looked at her pleadingly when he said again about just wanting to find her, even if she didn't want to see him. She stopped rubbing her temples, and gave him a weak smile, "Don't worry, I think I know somebody who could help" she replied.
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Post by tom on Jun 22, 2008 19:38:40 GMT -5
"Checked out to go where?" He rubbed his forehead, trying to figure this out. "She doesn't know anyone in this city. Claire... she wouldn't just go and stay with some stranger. She's smarter than that." He could pinpoint the blame soley on himself. If he hadn't left her, she wouldn't have had to give birth on an island and she wouldn't be missing in the middle of L.A. and he wouldn't be driven crazy with this guilt right now. "Anyone that can help." He let out a sigh, "I just need to find out that the kid is alright. That Claire is fine. I just need to see her." He pursed his lips and put a hand on her shoulder, calming himself down. "Thanks Leandra. I really don't know what I would do without you here."
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Post by leandra on Jun 22, 2008 20:07:30 GMT -5
"I don't know" she said honestly, she had no idea where Claire could have got to. She knew Claire and Jack were brother and sister, but she was sure Jack was still staying at the Roosevelt Hotel as well. Looking at it from Thomas' perspective then he was right, Claire wouldn't just check out and stay with a total stranger. But Jack wasn't a stranger to Claire, none of the Survivors of 815 were strangers to Claire, but Jack was family now.
She sighed deeply, because unless Jack could or would help them, they were stuck. But she smiled softly when he thanked her for her help. "You're welcome sweetie" she said softly, and rubbed her temples again. "We need to see Jack Shephard" she said with a smile, "Hopefully he'll know where Claire is" she continued.
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Post by tom on Jun 22, 2008 21:19:36 GMT -5
"Jack Shephard?" Thomas tried to recall the name for a second but he had no idea from where. It must have been from the same news broadcasts as he recognized Leandra and was looking out for Claire. "He's another survivor?"
Thomas wondered just how close Claire got to Jack Shephard on the island, but then put it out of his mind as in irrational jealousy. He'd made the choice to dump Claire and now he'd have to live with it.
"Where can we find him?" Thomas asked. He'd go anywhere to find out. Perhaps he could ask Widmore, but men like Widmore didn't deal with people like him directly, the contract had been worked out through other people.
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Post by leandra on Jun 22, 2008 21:46:30 GMT -5
She watched as he questioned the name Jack when she said it, he was probably wondering if Claire and Jack had got 'close' on the Island. She shuddered at the thought, because, well now they knew they were brother and sister, it simply didn't feel right. She smiled at Thomas softly though before speaking. "Jack Shephard and yes he is another survivor" she replied confirming what he asked.
She just hoped that Jack would help them, and not get too angry at her for bringing Thomas to the hotel to find Claire. The last thing she wanted to happen was for Jack to stop caring about her or liking her because she was trying to do a good deed for the man who had previously abandoned his sister.
"He's staying here too" she said with a smile, "Come on, follow me, we'll go to his room, hopefully he's there and not anywhere in town" she said kindly with a smile.
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Post by tom on Jun 23, 2008 0:04:29 GMT -5
Thomas went with her to the room. "So Jack, he knew Claire pretty well?" Thomas asked as they walked. "She had lots of friends on the island right? Lots of people to help her?"
He rubbed his forehead again, deep in thought of the concerns about Claire and the kid. He didn't know what he'd say to this man once they got there. He was hopefully not the type of guy to find out who he was and then slug him in the face. He'd made a mistake. He wanted to correct it now. He just hoped someone would listen to that.
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Jack Shephard
new oceanic 815.
Don't. Pity. Me. You have no idea what I've been through.
Posts: 197
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Post by Jack Shephard on Jun 23, 2008 4:46:01 GMT -5
The feeling still burned in him, and he wanted to simply stay in his hotel room and sleep away the problems that he had. He had never had a chance to do it on the Island, just sleep and not be bothered, but now it seemed that it was all he did. He felt hazy, sick and yet, he knew that his mother wouldn't let him go without eating. She begged and pleaded for him to come back home, to stay with her. "Look, Mom, I don't--" he started, and then sighed out. "Alright. Alright, I'll bring what little of my stuff I have to the house, okay? If it'll make you stop bugging me about it." Though even through the haze, Jack feflt himself smile slightly at his mother's concerned tone. "Yeah, yeah, alright."
He walked from the elevator, until he saw Leandra motioning towards him in the lobby, standing with a man that Jack didn't know. "What? Oh yeah. Yeah, I'll meet you outside. Yeah, Mom, I gotta go. I'll talk to you in a bit."
Jack hung up the cellphone and arched an eyebrow slightly as he walked to Leandra and the unknown man. The man was looking at him intently, and Jack tilted his head slightly. He had heard his name being said by the man as he had walked up. "I'm Jack. Can I help you?"
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Post by leandra on Jun 23, 2008 15:24:31 GMT -5
She could tell Thomas still really cared about Claire and in a lot of ways that touched her heart. She just couldn't understand why he had disappeared on Claire in the first place. Then again they were a young couple and she knew that a lot of young guys never liked commitment and got scared, but from what he had told her about his own father, it wasn't that Thomas had a problem about being a father, it was that he would be the same as his own father had been to him.
"Yes Jack was fairly close to Claire and knows her well, I should think he knows her better than I do anyhow, and yes she had lots of friends and people to help her on the Island, Claire was actually very popular" she said with a smile.
However they hadn't quite got to Jack's room when the elevator opened and he stepped out still talking on his cell phone. Of course she waved him over. She wasn't sure what to say or how to introduce Thomas to Jack, in a way she felt it would be better if Thomas did that himself. But she did want to say something, she smiled at Jack warmly "Hi Jack, hope you don't mind me bringing this young man here, but I thought maybe you could help him?" she asked him softly praying that once Jack found out who he was he wouldn't go ape shit and hit the guy and then refuse to talk to her ever again for bringing him to Jack.
"Just promise that you'll hear him out properly and don't interrupt until he's finished and what ever the outcome, please don't be mad at me for bringing him here Jack, I just felt I had to help" she said with a smile, trying to explain away her actions.
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Post by tom on Jun 23, 2008 17:30:42 GMT -5
They hadn't gotten all the way to the room before a man came walking up to them that introduced himself as Jack. When he heard Leandra's plea for the man with heavy bags lining his eyes to listen to him, Thomas felt something in his stomach tighten up. Just how close was this man to Claire?
He put forth his hand, but couldn't look the man in the eye properly. Somehow feeling more ashamed to explain his actions to this man, as it was to explain them to a young woman from the same country as he was from.
"I'm Thomas." He began, taking a deep breath for confidence, "I'm... Claire's ex. Claire Littleton. I've been trying to find her since I heard about..." Thomas felt like an idiot, they had all been through this horrific experience and here he was trying to put it into words. Here he was trying to have a polite conversation while the one he loved had given birth to his child on a freaking island! It just wasn't fair. "I want to see that Claire and the baby are alright. I just want to talk to her."
He finally looked at the man, with unmistakable shame in his eye, hoping the man could help him out.
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Jack Shephard
new oceanic 815.
Don't. Pity. Me. You have no idea what I've been through.
Posts: 197
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Post by Jack Shephard on Jun 23, 2008 19:02:38 GMT -5
It was sometime between the man saying Claire's name, that Jack's mind started working violently to try to make up any sort of lie. He shook the man's hand. "Hi, Thomas." Jack said, half listening to what the man said, while the other half tried to think of something to say. "Claire's really been through alot since we've got back. A friend of hers died a few hours after the crash. That along with having the baby...it's taken a tole on her." he explained. "She didn't feel comfortable staying at the hotel, so she's staying at my house. Well, my mother's house."
Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. A stretching of the truth with a white lie at the end. Thomas didn't need to know, not right now. He felt strange playing judge to this man, but right now, he had no choice.
"She's getting some rest; we've all been through alot."
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