Part 429: Dinner Conversation

The feast was always fit for kings.

Hurley would hire the best caterers in all of Los Angeles to provide the food for his friends and family every Christmas. Sawyer was worried all the weight he had worked off was going to come right back. Shanna convinced him that it was Christmas and he should live a little. Mia ate her roasted turkey and would occasionally glance back toward the kids table. Shelley was eating her potatoes and giggling at something Bridget just told her. The Lakota girl then felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked toward her left to have her husband staring at her. He winked at her motherly attitude and reminded her; she needed to eat as well.

Kate was enjoying the food and talking with Jack. They were also enjoying talking with Tony and Marita; as it was the momentous occasion to the fact the other doctor was no longer blind. “So, Tony,” Jack said, sipping his tea, “When are you getting your license back?”

“It’s the not the first thing on my agenda, Jack,” he smirked, eating some candied yams.

“And what pray tell IS, Cochise?” Sawyer laughed.

“I’m taking my wife on a long vacation to Hawaii,” Tony smiled, “Then we are going to see a lot of movies, go to a zoo and definitely go to a museum.”

“Sounds like a SEE-worthy trip.” The redneck commented, “Ese-ee-ee.”

“Clever, Sawyer,” Kate giggled.

“Well, when you do get your license,” Jack continued, “I was serious about what I said. We should run a small family practice somewhere. You and me.”

Tony shook his head. “I’d like that, Jack,” the former blind man smiled.

“Okay?” he said, putting his hand across the table.

“Okay,” he agreed, shaking his hand.

“Let’s hope you guys give discounts for family.” John smirked.

“We will, John,” Jack laughed briefly, “Quite frankly, I’ll be glad to get out of the hospital. It’s getting too much stress in my old age.”

“I hate hospitals.” Bonnie commented as she ate her bread.

Eddie then looked over to her, as did his mother while she sat by his side. He was curious why she would mention it during their conversation among other things. “Did you have a bad experience, Bonnie?” Eddie said, as he sipped his diet coke.

“When I was ten I got real ill,” she said, briefly wiping her mouth, “ They rushed me to the hospital because I could barely move. My lungs barely worked and it hurt to move. I stayed there for three days and not a single doctor could tell what was wrong with me.”

“Sounds like a momentary infection of some kind,” Jack commented.

“They weren’t sure either, Jack. Even one doctor mentioned I might have been poisoned or something.”

“Did it ever happen again?”

“No, just when I was ten. It was horrible . . .and I remember it like it was yesterday.”

“Well, thank God it never happened again, eh?” Eddie said, putting his arm around her.

“Yeah,” she smiled.

“We all get sick at that young of an age,” Jack smiled at her, “It’s just called Life.”

“Too late, Jack,” Sawyer said, eating some turkey, “She already hates hospitals, no use trying to butter her up for a physical.”

Kate then promptly kicked him. The redneck grunted which made most of the group around him laugh. Bonnie got embarrassed a bit, hiding her face in Eddie’s shoulder. The young man protected his girlfriend and gave a good-natured disapproving finger at Sawyer. The con-man just shook his arms with a smirk; a simple way of saying he was following his nature.

Up at the head of the table, Flower and Andra were giggling like school girls as they sat across from Hal and Libby. The therapist smirked at the younger girls, as they held their hands over their mouths and giggled. The cop just smiled as he ate his food. “I guess they are remembering our famous kiss on the docks of the Shark Tank.” Hal told his girlfriend.

“You would think they would let such a thing go.” Libby smiled with a grunt and gently kicked Flower under the table.

“Girls will be girls,” Arizona smirked, enjoying the garlic potatoes.

“So, Hal,” Chance got his attention, “When are you going to make an honest woman out of Libby?”

“Who says I haven’t?” the cop laughed.

Libby laughed at his joke as well, then they lovingly kissed eat other. The therapist smirked, wiping her boyfriends lips with her thumb. “You taste like gravy,” she grinned.

“You like it.” Hal retorted back.

“Taste like gravy,” Flower repeated with a giggle.

“Would you stop it?” Libby laughed, throwing her napkin at the French girl.

“Good times at the Shark Tank,” Hal smiled, “Besides the Fleshmonger bit and Goodwin. We could have done without that just fine.”

“That’s for sure,” Jilly toasted her friends.

“Hey, Raven,” the homicide cop got his attention, “How was Desmond and his family when you did your massive swim all the way to California?”

“Washington State,” he corrected him, “I was off course.”

After the group did a minor laugh at his joke, the Jaeger Unit took a sip of his wine and wiped his mouth. “They were doing just fine.” He told Hal, “They were looking forward to coming to America once Sebastian had come of age. Which actually will be in two years.”

Libby then raised her hand. “Uh, Raven . .. how would they do such a thing?” she asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he chuckled slightly, “I never got the chance to tell you of the story of Henry Gale.”

“Henry Gale?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, this black man who arrived in a boat.” The masked man said, eating small amounts of garlic potatoes, “ It was a cool morning that day. I was visiting them at The Shark Tank and I saw his ship. Floating out there on the horizon. I immediately informed Desmond and he requested I check it out. Once I swam out there, there was a black man just lying on the bottom of the cabin. His pulse was slow and his skin was incredibly dry. I grabbed the cord of the rope and pulled the boat in myself.”

“Then what happened?” Libby asked, becoming fascinated in the story.

“I carried him into the Shark Tank. Desmond used his doctor skills to check him and tried to save him. But sadly, Henry was dying of dehydration. Desmond used plenty of IV’s but it wasn’t enough. He passed on two days after he arrived. But he did leave the Hume family one parting gift.”

“The boat.” Hal smiled.

“Yeah, so when the time is right, and after Desmond makes sure it’s sea worthy, he’ll proceed to leave in two years.”

“Then we’ll welcome him, Isabella and Sebastian with open arms.” Jilly smiled.

Jenny paused in her eating as she heard every word she said. Desmond she remembered from the stories that Jack told her. She wasn’t with them at the Shark Tank because she was on the boat. However, Desmond wasn’t that much of a unique name in her life. During the whole serial killer who turned out to be a Jaeger Unit business, she had a few talks with Penelope Widmore and she spoke of a lost love named Desmond. She even saw the picture of him on her but since she never met Desmond, she didn’t know if it was the same person. It was a mystery she held in the back of her head.

And hoped to solve one day.

-------------------------------,

They had arrived late due to traffic but better late than never. Micheal was happy to see his friends, especially Jin. Yolanda was so happy to see Marita because it felt like ages since they were together. And last but not least, Eddie was happy to see his childhood friend Walt. The young black man embraced Eddie like a brother and they laughed; happy to see each other.

The group took their seats and began to help themselves to the food. Yolanda and Marita started to immediately talk. Jin tapped Micheal on the shoulder. “How is New York?” he asked him.

“Not too bad. It’s snowing back there.” He smiled, eating some corn, “It took as a while to get out of the airport.”

“Such a thing is normal in New York city.” Tony smiled.

Yolanda then looked for a brief moment at Tony and as she did, she paused when she noticed he wasn’t wearing his blind man glasses. The black woman’s own eyes went wide. When the former doctor realized she was looking at her, he winked. “OH MY GOD!!” she screamed in delight, “Tony, you can see!”

Micheal and Walt looked up when they remembered the blind man who was now no longer blind. Yolanda laughed as she hugged him, and he hugged her back. After that little moment of joy, she walked back over to Micheal, sat down and started to eat. Eddie introduced Bonnie to Walt and he should her hand. “Nice to meet you.” He said with a smile.

“Life in the big city making you humble, Walt?” Eddie teased him.

“What, are you kidding? I got the world handed to me on a silver platter,” he smirked, “I’m going to get what’s coming to me.”

“What is coming to you?”

“The world, chico and everything in it.” He laughed.

“Oh, god,” Eddie laughed, rubbing his eyes, “If you are quoting Scarface, then I know you becoming a city boy.”

“Hey, Walt, how is Vincent?” Shannon asked, “Did you bring him this year?”

The young black man stopped smiling for a brief moment. Then he smiled again as he started to eat his food. “He’s gone.” He whispered.

Eddie then looked to his friend. Shannon looked at him and then covered her mouth with her fingers. When Walt said the dog was “gone,” she only assume he meant that the dog was dead. Vincent was his constant companion and the thought them not together didn’t seem normal. “Walt, I’m so sorry,” the tall blonde whispered.

“It’s all right,” He smiled, as he continued to eat, “Little did we know he contracted some sort of kidney failure. If he was in pain, he never showed it. Just one morning I found him in his bed in the corner, still asleep. I called to him but he didn’t move. I walked over to check on him and he . . .was just gone.”

“That’s so sad,” Bonnie told him.

“It’s okay,” he smiled, continuing to eat, “Vincent was one of a kind. I’ll miss him but I’ve learned to remember the fond times. And we had a bunch, didn’t we, Eddie?”

“Amen,” Eddie held up his glass, “To Vincent.”

“To Vincent,” the surrounding friends toasted.

“Attention, attention, “ Taylor said down the table a bit, clanking her glass, “Can I have everybody’s attention?”

The group stopped their conversations and turned their attention to the blonde standing next to her husband. Most just smiled as they already knew what was coming. Taylor looked forward to it every year and this year, she felt would be especially interesting. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” she smiled, bracing herself on McKay’s shoulder,” It’s that time. Every year at Christmas I always ask the question so we know what we need to plan for in the coming month. Sun doesn’t have to raise her hand because she is obvious.”

Jin put his arm around his wife as they laughed to their joy. Taylor got everybody’s attention. “Now . . .who here . . . .is pregnant?” she then asked.

The groups then all looked at each other and Sawyer immediately raised his hand. Everybody laughed at his little joke, knowing full well he wasn’t pregnant. After a few exchanges of shy glances, Marita slowly raised up her hand. “WHAT???” Yolanda gasped.

“All right, that’s the way to go,” Sawyer clapped his hands, happy that Tony and Marita were finally going to become parents.

The group gave the Largos a round of applause. Yolanda rushed over and embraced her good friend. Then someone was coughing down the way. They turned down to the other end of the table and realized the man who was coughing was Hurley. Joscelyn calmly raised her hand with a little giggle. Her sister Paige’s eyes went wild. “OH, MY GOD!!!” she laughed.

“OH, PRAISE JESUS!” Mrs. Reyes said, then embraced her large son.

“I told you you’d be a grandmother some day,” Hurly said as she hugged his mother.

Kellye laughed incredibly, happy that her good friend from the Island was soon going to be a mother. Jilly and Barbara felt incredibly happy as well. Certain things were required to go full circle and seeing Joe so happy with Hurley was the best thing they could have hoped for.

After the congratulations, Taylor looked around the table and back again. “Anybody else?” she asked.

No one said anything. Taylor looked again. “Nobody?” she said, shrugging.

No one still anything . “Okay,” the blonde replied.

Then promptly raised her hand.

Mandy then coughed, spitting out her bread. Shannon gasped, not believing what she was seeing. John and Tony both looked to McKay. The bald Australian slowly swallowed his food and then looked toward his wife. She stared down at him giggling. McKay opened his mouth slowly; staring at her with wild eyes. “Taylor,” he whispered, “You’re . . .you’re . . .you’re . . .”

“Merry Christmas, stud,” she winked with a giggle.

McKay’s eyes then rolled to the back of his head and he proceeded to faint. He collided with a loud thud on the floor; making the kids jump from being startled. John and Tony immediately rushed to him to check on him. Everybody else was in shock but Sawyer, who was laughing so hard he was holding his stomach. Taylor looked at her past out husband then back to her friends and family with a smirk.

“My hero,” she sighed.