Meeting Thomas -Thomas-

[leandra]

Very late evening in a 24 hour cafe.....

Leandra had called Thomas to meet up for a coffee, as she wanted to find out how his day had gone with meeting Aaron. She hoped that everything had gone as well as he had hoped and that he managed to find out where Claire was, because Leandra didn't know, or at least she hadn't found out where she was. So if he was hoping she'd help, he might be a bit upset.

So she told him to meet her at this quaint cafe she had found, it was small, quiet and it would be the perfect place for them both to have a proper conversation without much interruption and noise. She couldn't fathom out why, but she had taken an instant liking to young Thomas, she felt like she could offer support, be there for him, and putting aside what he done in the past, he didn't seem like a bad person.

She walked into the cafe and ordered herself a cappuccino and sat down and started to drink, she had turned up a little early, and thought she would have a coffee while waiting for him to arrive. Sitting staring into space and playing with her hair, after the day she had had so far, she was feeling a little off colour and very agitated.

[tom]

Thomas came by faking a smile. Everything was wrong. Jack... Claire.... and he didn't blame Leandra but it would have been nice if she was a little more 'in the know'. He sat down in front of her and put his elbows on the table rubbing his head, his knuckle still ached and had scratches and scuffs all over it.

"Thanks for meeting me" he said shortly. "It's just been a hell of a day." Honestly it would have been easier to book the next flight back to Brisbane, but that wouldn't be fair on Claire, "how about you?"

[leandra]

She genuinely felt sorry for the poor guy, if his day hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped for. She was really hoping he'd be all smiles and be able to tell her how Aaron was, where Claire was. But by the look on his face, and from what he said about having a bad day, she had to think neither had happened.

"Your welcome" she honestly hadn't minded meeting up with him, "I'm sorry your day didn't go so well though" she said kindly, and she meant it too. She had really hoped that he would have some good news, so she wouldn't feel so bad about spilling the horror of her own day.

"My day was shit" she said with a forced smile and took another sip of her coffee, "Would you like one?" she asked him pointing to her own.

[tom]

Thomas nodded with enthusiasm as she asked him about the coffee. "I'm sorry" he said regarding her day, "guessing yours didn't have anything to do with Jack as well..." He put down the newspaper he'd carried around with him. "He put Claire in a mental institution. I mean, I know he's her bloody brother... but still..." He sighed. "Coffee might be just what I need."

[leandra]

Leandra was stunned when Thomas told her about Jack having Claire put into a mental institution, why would Jack have done that she thought. She never thought that Jack would have his own sister taken in hand in such a callous way. Claire had always seemed stable to Leandra, so what had she done to deserve to be treated in such a way.

"Damn" she said simply in reply to him telling her about Claire. She waved over the waitress and asked for another two cappuccino's, and she smiled and was back a few minutes later with two cups. "Thanks" she said to the waitress, and took another sip of her own.

"I can't believe Jack would do such a thing, why?" she asked pleadingly, trying to understand. "And what about Aaron, where is he then? Whose looking after him?" she asked casually, she knew that Aaron would be looked after well regardless of Claire being where she was, but she was still interested to find out who was looking after him.

"You're right, my day had nothing to do with Jack, I happened to bump into a couple of 'ghosts' today" she said the word ghosts and indicated inverted commas with her fingers and looked at him questioningly, wondering if he was now thinking she was required to be shot off to the loony bin herself.

[tom]

"Maybe because he's a complete wanker?" Thomas offered, unable to keep himself from uttering it. "I'm sorry. You're probably friends with him. It's just... I'm a bit protective of Claire you know. A bit hypocritical right? I don't want to be one of those guys that thinks that he's the only one with the right to screw her over."

Thomas took his cup of coffee and sipped it. "Thanks, by the way." He indicated and took another sip. Really he felt like the wanker. It was just easier to blame Jack. "Some woman that I think spoke Korean and her husband seem to be looking after Aaron." Thomas looked down. "I mean, I don't blame Jack for that. It's not like I'm a fit father. But just... I find it hard to believe that Claire would really be that bad."

Thomas gave a small, weak smile at the mentioning of "ghosts". He assumed she meant people from her past. L.A. was a big city. That was bound to happen. "You mean, people back from Oz?" He asked. "It's funny who you run into sometimes, don't you think? Like me meeting you today."

[leandra]

Leandra couldn't help but laugh a little when Thomas called Jack a wanker. It wasn't how she saw Jack of course and wouldn't begin to ever call him such a word, but she could see why he would think it after hearing what he heard. Even she was a little stunned by it.

She waved her hand at him, "Yeah he's a friend, but it's bad what he did to Claire, I can only assume Jack had good reason to do it though" and that scared Leandra a little. Wondering what it was Claire had done to land herself in that place. She shuddered at the thought.

"Its not hypocritical, well maybe a little, but you've changed right?" she said softly, trying to understand the young man, "Don't be silly, I don't think and hopefully nobody else will either" the guy needed a friend, someone on his side, someone who could help when he needed it, Leah hoped she could maybe be that person.

"You're welcome" she said as he thanked her for the coffee, and listened to him describe who was looking after Aaron, "Ah, that sounds like Sun and Jin" Leandra said warmly with a bright smile, "They're lovely people" she continued. Then sighed gently, "I can't believe Jack would do that to Claire either, but again he must have had some valid reason for it" she finished trying to explain with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah something like that " she said with a weak smile, even though that wasn't the truth, there was no point in telling Thomas whom she hardly knew, besides he'd probably think she was crazy, and well he probably wouldn't be that wrong, she was beginning to wonder if she was crazy herself. "Nothing for you to worry about thought" she finished with a warm smile.

[tom]

"Right" Thomas said a little stoicly when she asked if he'd changed. Not that he really believed it himself. It wasn't the only thing he wasn't believing though, the assumption that Jack had every good reason to do it to Claire when the paper reported it so negatively was really eating him up too.

"You may as well tell me" Thomas probed about the "ghosts" of her past. "I'm sure whatever happened in your day would probably rival the likes of mine and you've already known about everything bad that happened day. Except seeing Aaron... that was strangely... good. Who would've thought it, hey?"

[leandra]

She picked up on his negative vibes when he agreed with her that he had changed. Maybe he didn't truly believe it himself, but Leah wanted to believe it. And if he wanted to move on with his life, then he needed to start to believe it himself.

"Well I believe you've changed, but you aren't going to move on with your life unless you believe it yourself" she said softly with a warm smile, and taking another sip of her coffee. Her head was banging off the walls after everything which had happened today, she went into her bag and pulled out some painkillers and popped two and swallowed them with another sip of her coffee. Taking them with a hot drink would hopefully make them work faster, as she then started pressing her fingers into her temples trying to relieve the tension there.

She couldn't tell him the truth, because he would think she was crazy, and to be honest, she didn't really want to talk about them again, so she made up something about people from her home country. "I thought I saw a couple of people today from my home town, it shook me up rather badly" that's all she was prepared to tell him, if he probed her to tell more, she'd have to continue with her lie and hope he didn't pick up on it.

"I doubt it was as bad as your day, but I'm glad that seeing Aaron was good for you" she said softly with a warm smile, and she meant it.

[tom]

"Yeah... seeing Aaron was... better than I expected" Thomas chose his words carefully. "Babies, you know? They don't judge" he continued. He watched her as she pulled out some painkillers, immediately concerned. She had been there for him, even if Jack was a twat, and feared he couldn't do the same for her. "So what was wrong with this people that you saw? Like an ex-boyfriend or something? Someone else you've had a falling out with?" There was nothing he could do about it, but at least he could help talk it over with her.

[leandra]

"I'm glad to hear it, yeah I understand that about not being judged" she replied softly, her head was still very painful. Her day had definitely not been the best so far. She hoped the painkillers would start to work soon, otherwise she may have to cut her meeting with Thomas short, and she really didn't want to do that.

"No, not an ex boyfriend" she said slowly, she would have to go with her charade, and speak about it being her mother and her lover instead. She couldn't tell him the truth, no matter how much she liked him and trusted him, he'd think she was crazy.

"I left Australia because of my mother" she began, "It's a bit of a long story, but to cut it short, my mother had an affair, my father left for Los Angeles. Soon after she started up a brothel, which disgusted me. She wanted me to do her accounts for her, I refused. She blackmailed me saying she'd tell my father I was dying. I couldn't put him through that, so I agreed" she rambled slightly, stopping to take a sip of her coffee before continuing.

"There was a police raid on the bloody place, I was lucky I managed to escape and took the first flight out of Australia for Los Angeles to be with my father, I just happened to be on that fated flight 815" she said slightly bitter, remembering all the days they were trapped on the Island.

"Seeing her and her lover in the street was a shock, I never thought for one minute they'd find me, or that she would get out of prison" Leah said sadly, she was doing this rather well she thought, she really hoped he bought it. "They didn't approach me, so I'm not even sure it was them, but it looked like them and it just tore me apart" she finished.

[tom]

Thomas listened to her story with interest. "Wow" he said when she was done. "That's amazing... I mean, I didn't think things like that actually happened." He really couldn't believe it. It made any of the drama in his life seem like nothing at all.

"I actually met someone today" Thomas said, taking a sip of his coffee and rubbing his eyes for a second before going on about his day. "But I'm still a coward. I'm a bloody coward C... Leandra." He sighed and put down his cup. "You know... I'm beginning to think that I'll never be able to commit to anyone. Not Claire. Not Aaron. Nobody."

[leandra]

"Yeah, well neither did I, but it did" she said a little bitter with a wave of her hand. Its easier to forget about it naturally, but seeing those people today, they looked so like them you know? it was pretty scary.

Leandra listened to him say about meeting someone, and how he was a coward and didn't think he could commit. She shook her head slightly, looking at him sadly. "How old are you now Thomas?" she asked him, not meaning to sound bad or anything, "It's just you look old enough to me to be in a position to start making proper decisions and commitments" she said softly but firmly.

"You can't keep on running for the rest of your life, or you'll grow an old lonely little man" she didn't mean to be nasty, but sometimes cruel to be kind was the best way to go. Thomas almost calling her Claire didn't go unnoticed either.

"You don't want to be single forever do you? And do you really want Aaron growing up without his father?" she probed him, hoping that being this way might just knock a bit of sense into the young man.

[tom]

"I'm twenty-four, and old enough to do just that!" He exclaimed. "I don't know what's wrong with me... every time I think I have the sense to get over this... I just go and mess it up again. I do the same thing. I think I know what I want, to go back to Australia and just have a normal life... but I keep doing the opposite of that." He sighed and picked up his coffee again swirling it around to listen to it's contents. "I'm afraid of taking Aaron and then running out on him some day. Or starting a new relationship just to leave it again. It seems useless to try."

[leandra]

This was bad Leandra thought to herself. He really didn't have a high esteem, and that would never do him any good, not at all. "You know Thomas, you really need to start believing in yourself" she began, "If you don't, how do you expect others to believe in you?" she continued with a gentle sigh and a soft smile.

"I understand what you mean about Aaron, but why not try a relationship again with another woman? See how that goes before making a commitment to Aaron then?" it probably wasn't the best advice, but she thought if he could commit to a relationship then maybe he could commit to Aaron. "I mean you're never going to know unless you try. Saying it seems useless to try is just stupid, because if you don't at least try once, then you're never going to know if you can make it work" she felt like an agony aunt to him, and she hoped he didn't see her that way, because she'd feel bad.

But she desperately wanted him to move on with his life, and until he took control of it, he probably never would. Her head was still aching, she put her head in her hands again, with her elbows on the table and started rubbing her temples.