The character of Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) is featured in the episode's flashbacks, revealing what happened when she was kidnapped by Ethan, an Other.
Aaron becomes ill with a rash and fever, and Claire sets off in the night to find Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox).
Claire speaks to Libby (Cynthia Watros), who helps her recall memories from the two weeks when she was abducted by an Other named Ethan (William Mapother).
Claire enlists Kate to help her reach Rousseau, and to find a vaccine she remembered from her memories, believing that it is the cure for Aaron's ailment.
Claire then notices a stump in the jungle that triggers another memory; she remembers Ethan talking about leaving the baby with his group when they had a walk out of the facility.
Upon opening one, she finds tattered clothes, a box containing makeup, theatrical glue, and a beard — all parts of the disguise worn by the other in her previous encounter with him.
She has a flashback of a teenaged girl (Tania Raymonde) who rescues her from the bunker, saying that the Others plan to take the baby and kill Claire.
Claire tells Rousseau of the girl with blue eyes that helped her escape, implying it might be Rousseua's daughter, Alexandra.
Later, Locke tells Jack that Ernest Hemingway wanted to be the greatest writer in the world, but felt that he could never escape being in the shadow of Dostoyevsky.
[3] Writing in 2008 for IGN, Chris Carabott gave the episode a grade of 7.5 out of 10 and commended the further revelations about the Others, though he pointed out that it is still slight enough that casual viewers could understandably be frustrated.
[4] Alan Sepinwall considered "Maternity Leave" a notable improvement over the previous episode, "One of Them", stating that the former had "[m]ystery revelations that were actually useful".
[6] However, in another IGN article in 2014, Eric Goldman ranked "Maternity Leave" as 95th out of all the episodes of Lost, emphasizing the routine quality of the plot with the onomatopoeic "Zzzzzz", which indicates snoring.