Author' notes: Thanks, especially to all4jesus, for the encouraging reviews. As for the other inhabitants of the Island, just assume they're living in their village just as they did before the plane crash, ignoring Desmond. They aren't part of the story yet. Whether there is another Walt (who would actually be nine) in Australia now will be revealed later, probably much later.

I find that a big flaw in Lost is that after Walt had those premonitions about the hatch, he never got to meet its inhabitant. So Walt and Desmond will spend some more time together here.

Walt finds out from Desmond that there is a time discrepancy, and they discuss the possibility of going for rescue while working as partners in pushing the computer buttons.

The next few days Desmond and Walt alternated twelve-hour shifts with good results. Both were getting decent sleep, and were looking more radiant. They ate meals together at the start and end of their shifts. Walt watched the videotape with fascination, learning that the Dharma organization considered his and Desmond's task extremely important, and that why two-person shifts were so vastly preferred. There was also the explanation that communication with the outside world was prohibited.

Walt figured it was time to do laundry at the start of one his shifts. He took out the locator from the waistband of the red skirt, and Desmond spotted it.

"What is that device? I've never seen anything like it."

"Oh, it's a locator, like a GPS, you know, global positioning system. It helped me get here. Finest in 2008 technology. Want to see it?"

Desmond took the object, and saw the readings. "Four degrees, fifteen minutes, south latitude, one hundred sixty-eight degrees, forty-two minutes, twenty-three seconds east longitude. So that's where we are, hold it, you said two thousand and eight?"

Walt realized he might have made a mistake.

"I mean, …"

"Tell me what day you think today is, no hesitating."

"It was a long journey, and I'm not quite sure, we left on the sixth, a day to get to the island, another to Chad, then a night in that other hatch, and three days here, uh, June 12, 2008?" I have a feeling that's wrong.

"What are you trying to pull? It's the fourth of May, 2004."

Walt flinched. I went back too far. Now what do I have to do? Jacob, or that Mr. Eko, said to push the button. Guess I have to keep that up until they tell me something else.

Since telling the Desmond the truth had apparently worked before, Walt tried,

"I didn't tell you before; I went back in time when I got to this island. It was supposed to be a secret."

Walt put his dirty clothes in the washer and started it. Desmond looked at Walt incredulously. "Are you sure you didn't bump your head along the way?"

It was a way out for Walt.

"No, I'm not sure … wait, I think I did bump my head a few times on the way here. Two thousand and four, of course. And the trip must have been longer than I remembered."

Desmond was sure something was up, but didn't want to let on. Walt wanted to change the subject.

"So how did you get here?"

Desmond thought, He doesn't know much at all about this place. No harm in telling him and he may tell me something useful.

"I was sailing on a boat, on a solo around the world race. I felt I had to do something to impress someone very dear to me. I believe I was doing quite well when a tremendous storm hit while I was somewhere in the South Pacific. Did major damage, messed up all my navigation equipment. A full day later, my sailboat limped to a shore of this island."

"You couldn't fix it?" questioned Walt.

Desmond chuckled. "I could fix it all right. Took some time, but those who enter a race like that know what they're doing. The problem is that this bloody island is what needs fixing. I tried sailing away many times, and each time my ship sort of turned around and came back to this island, like all currents lead here. Doesn't make any sense."

"Did you try sailing away at 325 degrees?"

Desmond looked at Walt funny.

"Can't say that I tried that exact reading, but why did you say that?"

Walt realized that maybe he shouldn't have mentioned it, as he might be messing up a time line. On the other hand, maybe telling Desmond was the right thing to do.

"Okay, if you want the whole truth, I originally was on a plane that crashed here. Lots of bad stuff happened, I got kidnapped, my father … got me back, and we sailed off on a boat at 325 degrees according to my kidnapper's instructions. It sounded like it was the only direction we could get off."

Desmond found Walt's tale ridiculous, but was unsettled by how naturally Walt told it. He gives no indication that he's making all this up.

"So if you got off, why are you back here? Why would your father let you come here alone? Does he know you're here?"

Walt's face grew somber.

"My dad died a few weeks later trying to rescue people who were still here. He did save lots of people, but it's temporary. I found out I had to come back to finish the job."

"Oh, I'm sorry about your dad."

Desmond had a lot to think about. Walt was just a kid, and was spinning a fantastic story, right? Nevertheless, Desmond yearned to try sailing his boat out at 325 degrees, but that entail either leaving Walt alone with the button pushing responsibility, or taking him with and possibly have the world end before they could even reach his sailboat.

"Let me get this straight. Your plane crashed here, you were stuck here a while, you got off, but lots of people died, and now you've … come back in time to set things right? Doesn't that seem rather unbelievable?"

Maybe it's best that he doesn't believe me. "Yeah, I know it sounds impossible, and I didn't make it back to the right day. I went too far back, and I really don't know what to do. The only indication I got was to cooperate with you and keep pushing those buttons."

"Indication? What sort of indication?"

Walt expected Desmond not to be fond of this answer. "I had a vision in a dream. Sometimes I see people who were on the island with me, even though I didn't always meet them."

"What about me? Did you meet me the … first time you were here?"

"No, I never met you before I saw you at the food parachute thing. I sensed there was some building on the island, which had to have been your hatch, but never saw it."

Desmond was getting more concerned.

"Does this mean you know my future?"

"No, no one told me anything about you, sorry. And even if I did, it might not be good to tell you. It's often impossible to know what the right thing to do is."

"That's a problem everyone faces from time to time. I've think that's enough for now. Have a good shift."

Desmond went to his bunk, took off his shoes and socks, and lay down. He was not surprised to find sleep difficult. What if the kid is right, or at least part right? That 325 degrees is the way to get off of here. It could be my only chance to see Penny again. I can't live with the thought of never seeing her again.

But such an attempt would come with consequences. The lad can't come with me; we need someone to push the button or there may not be a world. There's no way he can manage that boat alone. He should be able to handling the station alone for a few days. I'll get help, and send return on the reverse course, that would be 145 degrees from wherever I hit land or a passing ship. But what if he fails? I have to tell him about the failsafe.

Desmond thought some more, and his conscience got the better of him. No, I cant' leave, that simply isn't fair to the boy. We'll just have to think of something else. He then drifted off to sleep.

Walt transferred his clothes from the washer to the dryer when the washer cycle finished, entered the numbers when the beeping sounded, and walked around the hatch until the dryer was finished. He had plenty of time to alter the clothes to fit him better, except for the shoes, so he managed with the three pairs of socks while he was awake. What happened to the guy who was here before?

When Walt's shift ended he had a chance to talk with Desmond over a meal. It was easy to lose track of time being underground all the time, and Walt wasn't sure if it should be considered breakfast or dinner. But that didn't matter as Walt had more questions.

"So Desmond, how did you end up here? You couldn't get off this island, but … then what?"

"Not a pleasant story. This man, Kelvin his name was, saw me wandering outside one day, and recruited me. A lot like I got you. He was pretty desperate, as his partner had passed away, and no replacement came. So I joined him, he taught me all I needed to know about this place, and we took twelve-hour shifts for a couple months. And then … he had an accident, and passed on as well. Like I said before, I've been alone nigh two and a half years." Don't need to tell him the details of Kevin's demise.

"Oh, that sounds terrible. Somebody messed up, this Dharma organization?"

"Aye, somebody messed up, but not completely. They've still been delivering the food every six months, so someone thinks things are still peachy here."

"It must be tough. You couldn't go outside for more than a hundred minutes at a time, all these years."

"You said it. But this island can be dangerous; we're really better off down here."

"Right, this island has crazy things, like polar bears. And boars, and … there was some clanking noise, some of us called a monster. I heard it, and my dog heard it, but I never saw it."

Desmond's face grew more serious. "I've heard what you call the monster. Never ran into a polar bear, though these Dharma folks could have brought a zoo over or something. From what Kelvin told me that's the sort of thing they'd do, their barmy scientific experiments."

They finished eating, and Walt went to bed, relieved to disencumber himself of the shoes and all the socks. During his shift, Desmond agonized over the possibility of running away and searching for Penny. But if I do that and she finds out the truth, she'll believe me to be a coward. And she'd be right. But it's only fair to let the youngster know about the failsafe…. When the shift was over, he prepared another meal for himself and Walt. When that was over, it was time to explain how Walt would have one last fighting chance in the event he was alone and failed to enter the numbers.

"Walt, there is something else I have to tell you. I don't want you to get scared, but there is a failsafe mechanism in case the numbers don't get entered in time. "

"Failsafe? What does that mean?"

"I suppose it means that if we fail, we can still be safe. Let me explain. It's buried in all those Dharma manuals on that bookshelf in the other room, but here is the essence. If for some reason, and I can't envision why, the numbers don't get entered and 'execute' pushed in time, there is still a chance. Down here is a ladder leading to a small, secure room."

Desmond pulled a handle on the floor in the corner of the computer room to show the ladder going down. Then he showed Walt a key hanging on a hook on the wall.

"There is a keyhole in some machine I can't explain. Take this key, put it in the keyhole, and give it a quarter turn clockwise. I'm not sure what it's supposed to do, but I think it releases a lot of electromagnetic stuff all at once. I don't know what it will do to the hatch, or the island, but the world should still be saved."

Walt didn't like the sound of that.

"If the numbers aren't pushed … but why wouldn't they be?"

"Perhaps if one of us was incapacitated, very sick, and the other got too tired, and mistyped the numbers, and couldn't fix it in time. Something like that. But it's a last resort. We'll probably never have to use it."

"Yeah, sounds like it. Thanks for telling me."

With that, Desmond went off to bed, and Walt started another shift. Several days and nights passed, and then days became weeks. After one month, Walt surprised Desmond with his assessment.

"Desmond, we're getting nowhere like this. I think the reason I was brought here was to show you the way off this island."

"Get me off …you mean on my sailboat?"

"Yes. Now we know in which direction to head."

"Aye, but one of us would have to stay behind to push the button, and … I can't teach you how to operate the sailboat from here."

"It will be all right. I'm in great shape now, and can last hear several days. You'll hit a shipping lane in two days, and can bring back experts and whoever in a plane, a seaplane maybe, and they can figure all this stuff out."

"Are you sure you'll be all right? Of course I promise I'd come back for you as soon as I could but … I don't like the idea of leaving you behind alone."

"I can handle being alone. I was alone in the Sahara for more than a day, with nothing except that tribal skirt. I didn't tell you before, but I got buried up to here in a sandstorm, and got out just fine." Walt held his hand with his palm horizontal, four centimeter over his head, which was now sporting a short Afro. "Here there's all kinds of food, and real beds, and a working bathroom, so I'll be all right."

Desmond admired the young man's bravery.

"I suppose it might be the only way out for both of us, but let's think about it for a day, shall we?"

"Sure, we should both be sure of this." Walt went off to bed, definitely not wanting to spend the rest of his life in this hatch pushing keyboard buttons, and believing his idea was the way to go.