The Woman from the Plane [Lost Fanfiction]

Chapter 12: The Devil You Know

Valerie received word from Richard that the surgery had gone well. It had been a relatively uneventful procedure. Jack had both Ethan and Juliet to assist, and Alex had hung around to keep him company as he came out of anesthesia.

"Some people will be by later to set up the medical equipment in his bedroom," Richard informed her.

"I guess I should clean a bit," she said, looking at the kitchen. The dishes had started to pile up and she clearly hadn't made any effort to clean the stovetop. "He always does them," she explained, gesturing expansively at the sink.

"Have you been drinking?"

"A little bit," she admitted, pinching her thumb and index finger.

"It's eleven," Richard informed her sternly.

"Well you know what they say, my old friend—it's five o'clock somewhere—not that time is real here," she told him, blinking. "You of all people..." she didn't finish the sentence. "I'll have a coffee, I guess."

"No more cigarettes. Air the place out. Alex will be coming home too. And you can start packing."

"Packing? Why?"

"Ben's surgery went well."

"And?" she replied combatively.

Richard stared back at her, as if the answer should be obvious. "You were here to make sure his surgery was successful," he explained slowly. "It's been done. He's going to make a full recovery. We don't need to keep you here. You can go."

She frowned at him.

"I have some other business here," she replied cryptically. "I've got a lot of cleaning to do," she mentioned, and started wandering back to the kitchen.

Richard reached out and grabbed her upper arm.

"Have you considered just telling us the truth about what you're up to?" he asked directly.

She cackled at him and shook her arm free from his grip. "I'll think about it," she replied, and slipped into the kitchen.

When Ben arrived that evening, the house was spotless, and Valerie had more or less sobered up. She'd showered, dried her hair, and made an effort to conceal the fact that she'd been a disheveled mess for the last couple of weeks.

"Hi," she said quietly, as Alex wheeled him through the door.

"Oh, you're still here," he noted dismissively.

"Yeah. I'm technically still your prisoner, I think."

"You can go," he said, without making eye contact.

"I've got a few things to wrap up. I'd rather stay, if that's okay."

He looked up at her, and she met his gaze. He was trying to read her, she realized. She raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to refuse her.

"Fine."

Alex glanced back at Juliet. Valerie caught the look that they exchanged, but she didn't entirely understand it.

She got out of the way while they set Ben up in his room. She was momentarily nervous as they started moving the furniture around, but she'd moved the envelope out from under the nightstand a couple of weeks ago. She'd put it back into her backpack and hidden it down in Ben's secret closet.

She'd found all sorts of old treasures that day—from his heavily used false passports to boxes that clearly hadn't been touched in years. She'd picked through his collection of curios, helped herself to the cartons of cigarettes, a little revolver, and a few wads of euros—just in case.