Phil leads me into the security building. Inside there are TV monitors everywhere and I'm reminded of the Pearl station. I see the behind of Jin headed through a doorway and Phil motions for me to follow down the stairs. When I get there, Sayid is still handcuffed. He notices me and shock pours over his face. Sawyer notices and turns around to me. "Dammit, Phil, what the hell is she doing here?"

"She's the new surveillance monitor. Thought she could get a look at what she's surveilling."

"Oh you did, did you?" Sawyer turns to the balding man. "Radzinsky, you get a hold of Horace yet?"

"No, Jim, I haven't. I've been too concerned about this handcuffed hostile showing up at the Flame, maybe getting himself a peek at the Swan."

"Alright, can it Stuart."

"So what are we gonna do with him?" Phil asks.

Sawyer looks at Sayid, then takes a deep breath. "Bring him some food. We're not savages." He starts to walk up the stairs, but turns to me. "New girl. You best come over to my place so I can explain to you the situation."

"That's not how we do things!" Radzinsky yells.

"Yeah, well we don't normally start pulling inductees into the inner circle, but looks like Phil here pushed her into it." He makes a noticeable glance at the name on my jumpsuit. "Come on, Tia."

Sawyer leads me out of the security building and around the back, away from the party. When we're far enough away I start to ask questions. "Sawyer—,"

He puts his finger up to his mouth. "Not yet."

He leads me into a house at the far end of the west neighborhood. "Juliet?" he calls and he enters the threshold. There's no response. "She must still be at the party," he says, shutting and locking the door. He waves me into the living room.

"Sawyer, what the hell is going on?"

"Okay, maybe I should start from the beginning. After ya'll left and we got stuck in 1974, we started to build a life. And eventually I became head of security. Jin and Miles are my seconds. That guy you met, Phil? He's a dimwit. If we had a protocol for firing someone, I'd be the first one to sign the paperwork, but we're stuck with him. That other guy, Radzinsky, he's a piece of work. Very into his secrets, very cut throat, and a total dickhead. Can't stand him. But the real guy in charge? That's Horace, and you haven't met him yet. Not a bad guy, kind of a drunk, but he gets stuff done."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to have a little bit of backstory on your new coworkers. When I sent Juliet to fix your papers, I had her make sure you got that security spot we were trying to fill."

"Why?"

"Why?" Sawyer says, a little confused. "Shoo, Brown Eyes, 'cause you're about the only one I trust out of your little group. Well, except Hugo, but what good would he be as security."

"You trust me?"

"Sure do. Plus you know how to play this game."

"What game?"

"Huh, maybe you aren't so good at this game."

"No, no. I think I get it. You want me to be your little Brown Eyed GI Jane, and go along with whatever you need. I'm your extra leverage."

"No, you're a link. Between the things I can't tell you and the things you and Kate, Hugo, and the doc need to know."

"Alright then," I say, sitting down and crossing my legs. "Fill me in on your protocol."

"Well, basically we have a truce with the hostiles. It's a long list of things no one expects you to be familiar with yet. The biggest thing that you need to know is that Richard, who I think is their leader at this point, knows about me. That I'm not really from DHARMA. But he doesn't know about Juliet or Miles or Jin."

"And what about Sayid?"

"Jin caught him running through the jungle but Radzinsky was there so he had to play dumb. Sayid didn't say anything until I showed up. I forced him to identify as hostile, otherwise Radzinsky was gonna shoot him."

"So what now?"

"I don't know yet, I need to think."

"And my job is to?"

"Watch the security cameras, see if anymore of the people on your plane show up. If they do, you'll ned to erase the tape. Then I'll have to work to keep 'em hidden from the DHARMA folk."

"What about the rest of your people? Rose, Bernard, Claire, Frogurt, Scott—,"

"I think you mean Steve."

"Whatever. Like you could remember. What happened to them?"

"Most of them died during the time shift from an attack by the Others in the 50s"

"You were here in the 50s?"

"Yup. The US Army was here, testing nuclear bombs. Faraday had to disable a giant one and the Others buried it in the ground."

I try to wrap my head around this, but the twinges of a headache start. "Okay, so I monitor the cameras. Look for people, if I find them, erase the tapes. That's it, right?"

"Keep your head down, don't draw any attention to yourself. Now that Phil's dragged you into this whole mess with Sayid, I expect Horace might pull you in to deal with this stuff."

"Who do they think I am, James? What did you put in my file?"

"Basically the truth. You were in the army and you left it after getting shot."

I nod my head. "Alright. Don't worry about me. I got this."

I walk out the front door as evening starts to fall. I see Juliet walking over to Sawyer's house. "Hey, Tia," she greets me.

"We're not supposed to know each other," I say. Despite our past, I'm kind of happy to see Juliet. I look back sat Sawyer's house and I remember that when we first got there, he called out Juliet's name. I look back at her. "So are you two…?"

She smiles sheepishly. "I haven't told Kate yet."

"I understand."

"Oh!" she exclaims, pulling a folder from her bag. "I almost forgot. You missed housing assignments. You and Kate are together in that house over there," she says, pointing.

"What about Jack and Hurley?"

"They're in the house across from you. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Night, Juliet."

Inside the folder she handed me is a safety protocol manual and a set of house keys. I pull out the keys and open my new front door. Kate is inside, sitting on the couch, sipping tea. Patsy Cline plays from the record player on the book self.

"Hey," I say, dropping my manual and sitting in the chair across from her.

"Hey, yourself."

We sit in silence for a moment before I open my big mouth again. "Kate, I—,"

"You can stop apologizing. I forgive you."

"Thank you," I say. "But that's not what I was going to say."

She raises her eyebrows and I ask my question. "Why'd you come back, Kate? Why'd you leave Aaron?"

Tears start to well up in her eyes. "Before I found Ben on the pier, Jack and I followed his lawyer to a hotel to another one of his clients. It was Claire's mother. So for a few hours, I thought she knew. That she was trying to take him away. But she was just in LA, collecting her settlements after suing Oceanic. But it got me thinking. I wanted Aaron back with Claire. So I left him with his grandmother and I came to find her and bring her home."

"That's good. It's brave of you."

"What about you? Why'd you come back?"

"I always felt so guilty about Jin and thinking he was dead. When Sun figured out he was alive, she asked me to come back and I wasn't going to. But then my brother told me it was the right thing to do. And if I can't trust my brother's advice, then I can't trust anyone's."

"So he knows the truth?"

"Yeah, but that's mostly Hurley's fault."

She chuckles. "Yeah, he was never good at keeping secrets."

"Yeah. Unfortunately I've got a few more for you." And I fill her in on everything that happened with Sayid and everything Sawyer told me last night.