"LOST": Claire, Aaron and the Couple From Los Angeles

"LOST": Claire, Aaron and the Couple From Los Angeles

Ever since the Season Four finale of ”LOST” aired, there have been speculations from some fans that both Jack Shephard and Kate Austen were destined to raise Aaron Littleton, the infant son of the fellow Oceanic Flight 815 survivor Australian-born Claire Littleton, born on the mysterious island.

This speculation arose from a scene in ”There’s No Place Like Home – Parts 2 and 3”, that featured a dream in which Kate had received a message from Claire, warning the former fugitive to never return Aaron to the island:

(telephone rings)
(ring)
KATE: Hello?
(Clicking)
KATE: Hello? Who's there?
(Ghostly voices whispering)
(buzzing)
(door opens, creaks)
(buzzing continues)
(gasps)
KATE: Don't move. Don't you touch my son!
(Gasps)
KATE: (Whispers) Claire? How did y--
CLAIRE: (voice breaks) Don't bring him back, Kate. (Chair creaks) Don't you dare bring him back.

Personally, I do not feel that Jack and Kate were meant to raise Aaron. If they were, Hurley Reyes, another survivor of Oceanic Flight 815 Or else Hurley would have never told Jack that he was not meant to raise Aaron in another Season Four episode, ”Something Nice Back Home”:

HURLEY: What'd you do today?
JACK: What did I do today? I, uh... (sighs) I woke up, took a shower. Uh, Kate and I fed the baby.
HURLEY: I thought you didn't want anything to do with her.
JACK: I changed my mind after the trial.
HURLEY: Living with Kate... taking care of Aaron... it all seems so perfect... just like heaven.
JACK: Just because I'm happy doesn't mean that this isn't real, Hurley.
HURLEY: I was happy, too, Jack... for a while, anyway. Then I saw Charlie. He likes to sit with me on the bench out on the front lawn. It's pretty cool, actually.
JACK: Okay. (Sighs) So what do the two of you talk about?
HURLEY: Well, yesterday, he told me you were gonna be coming by. He wanted me to give you a message.
JACK: A message?
(Drawer scrapes)
HURLEY: He made me write it down so I wouldn't mess it up. "You're not supposed to raise him, Jack." Does that make any sense?

As for Kate’s dream about Claire, I found it odd that the Australian woman had spoken to her in an American accent. But before I continue with this, I want to take a look at the Season One episode that first broached the subject of Claire, Aaron and the matter of who was destined to raise him:

From "Raised By Another":

In one of the flashbacks in this episode, a pregnant Claire discovered that her boyfriend Thomas had ran out on her, leaving her alone to raise their unborn child. She paid a visit to an Australian psychic named Richard Malkin. After “reading” her, he informed Claire that only she should raise her baby:

MALKIN: It is crucial that you, yourself, raise this child.
CLAIRE: You mean with Thomas? Is he..
MALKIN: The father of this child will play no part in its life, nor yours.
CLAIRE: So what exactly are you saying?
MALKIN: This child parented by anyone else, anyone other than you -- danger surrounds this baby. . .
CLAIRE: Danger?
MALKIN: Your nature, your spirit, your goodness, must be an influence in the development of this child.
CLAIRE: If Thomas and I don't get back together I'm putting this baby up for adoption. I just wanted to find out what would give the baby the happiest life.
MALKIN: There is no happy life -- not for this child, not without you.
CLAIRE: I don't. . .
MALKIN: It can't be another. You mustn't allow another to raise your baby.
CLAIRE: Okay, great. Thanks for taking my 200.
MALKIN: Oh, no look, take it. Ms. Littleton; I am begging you just to consider...
CLAIRE: I can't raise this child by myself.
MALKIN: You have to listen to me.
CLAIRE: Thanks for your time, and my money back.
MALKIN: Ms. Littleton, please. The baby needs your protection. Ms. Littleton, please.

In another scene, Malkin called Claire in the middle of the night and tried to convince her to keep the baby:

[Shot of Claire sleeping in a bed. The phone rings.]
CLAIRE: Hello?
MALKIN: Ms. Littleton, it's Richard Malkin.
CLAIRE: Oh, God.
MALKIN: Listen to me. I have a plan, something that will make this all better.
CLAIRE: You've got to stop calling me. It's too late, alright. I'm going to see adoptive services tomorrow.
MALKIN: I've been telling you for months, you cannot do that.
CLAIRE: Look, what I do with my baby is none of your business.
MALKIN: If you don't do what I'm suggesting, great danger will befall...
CLAIRE: Hey, great danger will befall you if you don't stop calling me in the middle of the night.
MALKIN: I know what you're feeling inside, Claire -- that you're doubting your decision to give up the baby. Look, I'm begging you, don't do it. At least hear my plan first.
CLAIRE: Good night.

Then Claire went to an attorney's office to sign over her baby to a couple named Eileen and Joseph. However, Claire found herself unable to sign the paper, due to lack of ink (the island?):

[Shot of the adopting couple and Claire in the lawyer's office.]
LAWYER: Eileen(?) and Joseph will bring you to Melbourne. They'll pay your living and medical expenses.
EILEEN: We found you an apartment. It's a really nice two bedroom place. And, well, we think you're going to be really comfortable in it.
LAWYER: As discussed, once the baby's born and handed over to the Stewart's you'll have no right to see the child again. You'll have no right to correspond with the child. It will entirely up to Eileen and Joseph whether to tell the child anything about you. Understood?
CLAIRE: Yes.
LAWYER: Upon your discharge from the hospital you'll be given an additional payment of 20, 000 dollars.
CLAIRE: I just want to make sure that you're going to take really good care of the baby.
EILEEN: Of course we will.
LAWYER: Now, I'll need you to sign and date here, where indicated.
[Shot of Claire starting to sign.]
CLAIRE: Do you know Catch a Falling Star? It's a song, like a lullaby.
EILEEN: Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.
CLAIRE: My dad used to sing that to me when I was little. Do you think you could sing it to the baby once in a while?
EILEEN: Of course.
[Shot of Claire starting to sign the document but the pen is out of ink.]
CLAIRE: It's not working.
[Shot of the Lawyer handing her another pen.]
LAWYER: Here.
[That pen doesn't work either. Shot of Eileen passing another pen across the table.]
CLAIRE: I, I'm sorry. I can't do this.
EILEEN: What? No.

Then Claire paid another visit to Malkin:

[We see Claire at the psychic's house.]
CLAIRE: You spent the last 4 months telling me I have to raise the baby myself. Now you're giving me money and saying I don't have to?
MALKIN: I found a couple in Los Angeles who are very eager to adopt. The baby will be safe in their care. Now, I've foreseen. . .
CLAIRE: Heh, Foreseen? I don't even know why I'm here. I'm sorry.
MALKIN: I know this sound ridiculous, Claire. All this psychic business, and I appreciate that you must think I'm a raving madman. But this is what must happen.
CLAIRE: So you're giving me 6000 dollars to give my baby to a couple of strangers in Los Angeles?
MALKIN: 12,000. The other 6 when you arrive in Los Angeles. And they're not strangers, Claire. They're good people.

When the episode ”Something Nice Back Home” revealed Jack and Kate raising Aaron in the near future, certain fans took it as a sign that they were the nice Los Angeles couple destined to raise Aaron. But Claire . . . and other fans had another excuse for Malkin’s mention of that nice California couple. In another ”Raised By Another” flashback, Malkin gave Claire an airline ticket for Oceanic Flight 815:

[Shot of Claire accepting an airline ticket from Malkin.]
CLAIRE: I can't go tomorrow. I have to get my. . .
MALKIN: It has to be this flight. It can't be any other. They're already scheduled to meet you when you arrive. Flight 815. Flight 815.

I found it odd that Malkin was so determined that Claire board the ill-fated Oceanic Flight 815. Claire told Charlie that the psychic had intended for her to be on this island to raise Aaron:

[Shot of Claire and Charlie in the jungle.]
CLAIRE: There was no couple in Los Angeles. He knew. He knew about the plane, what was going to happen. Oh my god, he knew.

In Something Nice Back Home”, the figure of Christian – Claire and Jack’s father – appeared before the Australian woman to lead her away from a camp she was sharing with Sawyer and Miles in the middle of the jungle:

(Crickets chirp and a campfire crackles in the jungle. Miles is fast asleep. Sawyer snores. Claire stirs awake. Aaron is gone. She looks up to see a white-haired old man rocking the babe in his arms. It's Christian Shephard. Claire gasps.)
CLAIRE: Dad?

And in the following episode, ”Cabin Fever”, Flight 815 survivor John Locke met up with Claire and Christian in Jacob’s cabin:

(Loud creak)
LOCKE: Claire?
CLAIRE: Hi, John.
LOCKE: What're you doing here?
CLAIRE: Don't worry. I'm fine. I'm with him.
LOCKE: Wh--where's the baby?
CHRISTIAN: The baby's where he's supposed to be, and that's not here. It's probably best that you don't tell anyone that you saw her.

Certain fans viewed this scene as evidence that Aaron was not meant to be on the island, period. Unfortunately, the episode never really made it clear what ”here” meant. No one really knows why Christian had Claire to leave Aaron behind before taking her to Jacob's cabin. Nor does anyone know what he meant by ”here”. Had he meant inside the cabin? Or the island? Like I had said before, the episode never really made it clear.

Repeating what I had earlier stated, some fans believe this was a sign that both Jack and Kate was meant to raise Aaron. Or possibly Kate was meant to raise Aaron, since Hurley had informed Jack that he was not meant to raise the infant. I still have grave doubts that either Jack or Kate were meant to raise Aaron. Now, there are others who believe that Aaron might end up being used as a catalyst for the Oceanic Six to return to the island. Who knows? I guess we will have to wait and see.