Chapter 12

Locke heaved a big sigh. "I think I have been avoiding it long enough," he began slowly.

To say that the group of survivors was perplexed was an understatement. It had been three weeks since they reunited with John, and he had been very open with what had happened on the island since they had left. He had told them how he had set up leadership at the Temple, and had been establishing his leadership of 'his people' as he was calling them. He had told them of the trial of Ben Linus, and how he had sentenced him to exile after nearly ten days of thinking. They supplied the Elizabeth, given him an appropriate bearing, and basically sent him away. He'd told them how he learned that while the Dharma Initiative was dead, there was a still a location in Guam that was responsible for yearly 'pallet drops' of supplies – that had been what the survivors had found the night Sayid had revealed that Henry Gale was a fraud. And he had told them that there was something called 'an exit' in Tunisia where people could leave the island.

"What are you talking about, John?" Jack asked for the group.

"I'm not saying nothing that I've told you the past few meetings isn't important. But the truth is, all of these stories are in comparison, small potatoes to the questions I'm sure all of you have been asking since I told you about Richard's meeting with Jacob."

This time, Sayid spoke for them all. "It was a lot to take in, John."

Hurley shook his head. "I'm still not sure how to tell Callie about it."

"Even for someone who believes so much in destiny, it was a lot for me to deal with, too" John admitted. "And as much as I wanted to meet with Jacob, and get some answers to my questions, even then I had to admit I wasn't nearly ready for it. I mean, how do you arrange for a meeting with someone who might as well be God?"

Juliet was thoughtful. "Richard never asked questions, either."

"The man had patience," Locke said. "But I'll be honest. I didn't want to have to wait a century or even the thirty years Ben did to get answers from this man."

"Why'd you bother waiting in the first place?" James asked. "Saint Richard basically told you where the guy was living. Why not just march down to the giant foot and pull him out?"

"The thought crossed my mind once or twice, James," Locke admitted. "The truth is, I was terrified of what he might tell me. But he must've known I was waiting for answers. Because eventually he sent me a message."

WHOOOOSH

March 11, 2005

"How long ago did you come to the island?" Locke asked Dogen.

Dogen wasn't really comfortable around anybody, but after Richard had entrusted him with a few secrets, he had very gradually given some details about the island to John.

"I was a successful businessman," he began quietly. "I had just received a promotion." He paused. "I had too much to drink." He looked around, his eyes focusing on a baseball on his desk. "I forgot to pick up my son at Little League. There was an accident."

Locke thought he knew the end of this story.

"At the hospital, a man showed up. He offered me a bargain. He would save my son's life. But I could never see him again. I think you know who that man was. That was eight years ago."

Locke shook his head. "You'll forgive my saying this," he began quietly, "but why does everybody just do what Jacob says? Yes, this is a sacred place, and yes, it needs to be protected, but why must the cost always be so high? It cost you your son, it cost Richard any chance at happiness, and its cost so many lives. And the rewards, they don't seem to be enough compensation. I'm almost starting to feel sympathy for Ben."

For the first time, Dogen was looking melancholy. "I wish I could give you the answers you seek, John," he said in a soft voice that he never shared with outsiders. "But the sad truth is those of us on the island, I think we're still looking for them. We know there is a higher plan here – you know as well as we do how special it is – but we are never given the truth. Only fragments of the whole."

There was something in Dogen's voice that John didn't quite recognize. "Am I about to get one of those fragments?"

Dogen didn't answer directly. Instead, he took out a piece of parchment, and handed it to John. "At dawn tomorrow, leave this place, and follow the direction that are on this paper. I believe when you get there, you will get an answer to at least one of the questions that has been troubling your mind ever since you came here."

John took the paper. "Why do you only believe it and not know it?"

Dogen didn't answer for a couple of minutes. John was about to leave when Dogen finally answered.

"Because I've been where these directions lead. There's nothing there."

WHOOOSH

"What was he talking about?" Jack asked.

"I didn't understand at the time," Locke began slowly. "But like I did almost every time I was told, I decided to follow the path. I just didn't think it was going to be so literal this time."

"The next morning I followed the directions. And it was even more maze-like than so many of the other paths on the island. In this case, it led me through the jungle for a couple of miles, and into the caves that many of us made home the first month we were on the island."

Hurley raised a hand. "You ever find out who those two skeletons belonged to?"

Locke shook his head. "No one knew. This was one island mystery that I don't think anybody had a solution to. Anyway, after I filled my canteen at the lake – for sentimental reasons more than anything else - I walked for nearly three miles at a bearing of 240 degrees." He hesitated. "And then I saw it."

"Saw what?" Kate asked.

Locke had that distant look of memory. "A lighthouse."

There was a very long moment of silence as this sunk in. Sayid spoke up first. "John, I mapped the island very thoroughly. And we all explored every inch of it. There was no lighthouse on the island."

"I was there for three years, John," Juliet began

"I am well aware of that fact," Locke told them seriously. "There was no way any of us could have lived on that island for a protracted period of time, and not seen it. Particularly something like this."

Jack, surprisingly, withheld judgment. "What was it like?"

"It was at least eighty feet high. There were at least five tiers to it. And it was ancient. It looked like it might have been built in the period of Ancient Egypt, maybe even older." Locke looked at them. "But I think there was a reason that nobody saw it. Not us, not the Others, maybe no one who ever came to the island. Because when I got inside, it became very clear that it hadn't been used for navigational purposes in a very, very long time."

"What was it used for?" Kate finally asked.

"There was a door made out of bronze. I honestly didn't think it would open when I got to it, but I barely had to push. " Locke hesitated. "And I'll tell you something. Part of me hoped it wouldn't open. I thought something might be inside that would absolutely shatter me. But I knew I couldn't just walk away. This place might not be here when I came back."

"I walked up, five flights of stairs. Part of me wondered if this was where I was finally going to meet Jacob, that he might finally reveal to me what my destiny truly was. I'm not sure whether that propelled me forward or held me back."

"Finally, I reached the top level. I was alone. Just like I felt when I got inside the Swan, I was sorely disappointed. It seemed to be 'just' a lighthouse, albeit one old enough that it might have been one of the first ever built. There was a terrace which had a view of all directions. An ancient telescope. There was a huge wooden wheel that was under a large brazier bowl, that must have held fire at some point. There were mirrors around the surface at least five feet tall, and a pulley and gear system."

"It took me at least five minutes to gain my strength from the trek and the long climb, and I was feeling even more confused. Why was I sent here? What was the point of a lighthouse on an island that no one could find on any map? I walked a little closer to it." Locke paused for a period of time. "And then I did a double take. Even after everything I had seen, and everything I had been told, I couldn't process what I was seeing."

He took an even longer pause. "This is the part I really don't want to tell you," John finally said.

"Damn it John, you can't just come to the cliff and not jump," James said.

"We're off the island now," Locke said quietly. "In a very large sense, it doesn't matter any more what I saw. None of it can touch us. But knowing about it, that may very well haunt you for the rest of your days. It has certainly given me my share of nightmares, and I believed."

He was speaking to all of them, but it was Jack everybody was looking to, and they all knew it. "This was what you thought was going to be waiting when we blew the hatch, right?" Jack finally asked.

"You weren't there, but that ended with the world nearly imploding," Locke said. "Same thing happened here, but the explosions were all inward."

Jack took a long pause. "What was on the wheel, John?" he finally said.

Locke took a deep breath. "Every single degree was a numbered. And every single number had a name. It was hard to read a lot of them, because the lion's share had been crossed out, and from the looks of it, many had been crossed out a long time ago. But there were twenty two that I could read clearly."

"Whose were they?" Jack asked.

Locke swallowed. "Ours. I was right on top of it. My name was next to the number 4."

Hurley had just gone very still.

"On number 8 was Reyes." Locke looked at Hugo. "Then right on top of each other, were James and Sayid. 15 and 16." He took a deep breath and looked at Jack. "Yours was at number 23."

Hurley's blood felt like it had gone to ice. "And 42?"

"Kwon. I don't know which one you it was," he said to Jin and Sun. "So Hugo, you were right all along about those numbers being important. However, lest you think that those numbers and those alone were the most important ones, so were nearly everybody else. Kate was listed at number 51. Claire was number 313. Michael, you were there at number 140. We were brought to the island, but it was never just about the numbers."

Hurley wasn't sure whether this made him feel better or worse.

"And I also recognized some of the names that were crossed out. 31 was Rutherford. Shannon. 242 was Boone. 194 was Charlie. And 203 was Cortez. Ana Lucia."

Hurley had to know. "Was Libby-"He couldn't finish the sentence.

"There was a Smith. But that's a very common name, Hugo." Locke said. "There was also a Jones."

All of them were still trying to process this. It was one thing to know they seemed destined to be on the plane; it was another thing to know that plane was supposed to come to the island. But knowing that all of that had been prelude to something far larger than that – that this may have been a decision that was made before they even knew about it – well, this would have shaken the hell out of someone who didn't believe in free will.

"This may or may not make you feel much better," Locke said quietly. "But the names that were on that wheel weren't the only ones I recognized. "

Kate seemed to be the one more in control. "Who else was there?"

"Danielle was at number 20. And Montand, who was also on her team, he was there too. " Locke looked at them. "And I saw a few Others who were on the wheel."

Michael seemed to have gotten a hold of himself. "Which ones?"

"Ben. Stanhope, which was Harper's last name. Pryce, the guy who beat me to a pulp when he found me at the dock." He swallowed. "And yours."

Juliet's face had been growing gradually paler since John had mentioned Others, and when she heard that she had been picked by someone a long time ago, the normally prepossessed woman looked a lot like she was going to faint. "You're sure?"

"You were number 58." Locke genuinely sounded sorry. "I think that's really why Ben wouldn't let you leave the island."

Locke just let this sit for several minutes. He knew that this was a hell of a bombshell, and he was more than willing to let it simmer.

After a few minutes, he started speaking again. "I think it may well be worth mentioning that there were some names we all know very well that weren't on this wheel. I didn't see your name anywhere, Walt. You were special, but it's not because Jacob said so."

"I'm not sure how to take that, Mr. Locke," Walt, perhaps understandably, was handling this the best.

"I didn't see Richard's name anywhere, either. Or Widmore's. Or Desmond's. Hell, I didn't see Nadler, and both Rose and Bernard were never going to leave that island."

"After the shock wore off, I started to get confused. I could understand why we were there. But Desmond had come to this island against his will, and had been unable to leave no matter how hard he tried. Richard had been serving Jacob for nearly 140 years; had Jacob just drawn the Black Rock here for sport? None of this made any sense. So I decided to do something that made even less sense."

"Which was?" Hurley now sounded almost normal.

"I decided to move the wheels until it was positioned over my name." Locke paused. "And I did get answers. I was just even less happy with them."

Jack finally worked up the nerve to ask the obvious. "What'd you see?"

"Nothing at first. As I pulled on the rope, it just seemed to be an ordinary mirror. But then, I pulled it and I saw what looked like a pagoda. I kept pulling at I saw this church. Old and definitely Gothic. I couldn't make the connection. In hindsight," He looked around. "It may have only been for the names that hadn't been crossed off."

"And when you got to your name?" Kate asked with a gentleness she rarely used with John.

Locke looked like he was on the verge of tears. "It was the outside of the hospital that I'd spent in recovery after… he threw me out the window. I just looked at it for a very long time. I knew it what meant. I had been chosen. And it felt even worse than when I was thrown out the window."

"Why?" Now Jack was puzzled. "You were right. This proved everything you'd believed."

"It also meant that he'd watched me get thrown through an eight story window, and had done nothing to stop it. It meant that he'd watched my father do horrible things to me – made me lose Helen – and he'd let it happen. It meant that he'd watched every single horrible moment of life, and let me suffer, just so I would end up on the island." Locke said. "I believed in destiny, and destiny is fine as long as the higher power remains abstract. To know that he's been watching you all this time, maybe just pulling a string here or there to make sure that your path doesn't deviate." Locke thought about it for a moment. "I honestly think if Ben, the island's most loyal disciple had known about this place, he would have recoiled in horror. As for me, I just couldn't take it. I did something I had never done in all the time I'd been on the island. I ran. I don't even remember running down the stairs. All I wanted to do was get away from the lighthouse."

Jack walked up to John, and put his hand on his shoulder. "You're still more disciplined than I would've been. If it had been me, I'd have smashed the mirrors."

"And that's still more restraint than I'd have shown." James said acidly. "I'd have kept running until I found Jacob and punched him in the throat."

Locke gathered himself. "All valid responses," he told himself. "But I think you understand why I've been delaying in telling this part of the story. I know there were more people than me who believed in fate, but I'm pretty sure that with the exception of Desmond, everyone in this room was in the free will camp. And I really didn't want to tell you that all the choices you thought you made were never really choices at all."

"And he did that all of an island that no one could ever find," Sayid was understandably having trouble getting his head around this.

Locke shook his head. "He must have been able to leave the island somehow. There's no other way he could have gotten Dogen or so many of the Others on his side. There's no way he could have known to send Richard to come and recruit me before I was even old enough to make my own decisions. And as much as the Others would have you believe differently, the only way the Dharma people could have gotten to the island in the first place was if he let it happen somehow. He couldn't have called our plane to the island if he hadn't known that somehow we were all going to be on it."

"But no one was allowed to leave the island. " Kate said.

"I know that. But apparently, the rules didn't apply to Jacob." Locke heaved a frustrated sigh. "Which I suppose makes sense, because I'm pretty sure that he created the rules in the first place."

"How upset were you, John?" Hurley seemed to be changing the subject.

"I wasn't upset, Hugo." Locke said. "I was angry. And I'll tell you something I wasn't even going to tell the rest of the people. For the first time since I woke up on the beach and was able to walk, I hated the island."

That was, if anything, an even stranger thing to hear than everything Locke had just told them about the lighthouse. Sayid ended up reacting to this first. "Even after everything you've told us, that's the one thing I can't believe."

"I had doubts while you were there," Locke admitted. "After Boone died, when I learned who 'Henry' was, when I went to the Pearl station. But all those time, it was my own doubt that plagued me. This time, I really wondered about whether it was all worth it. After I came to the Pearl station with Eko, I thought the Swan was a maze with no cheese. When I came from the lighthouse, I thought my entire life had been a maze that someone else had designed, and the cheese wasn't worth all the dead ends. The island had given me a miracle. But the miracle is irrelevant if someone was responsible for making it necessary."

"Damn," James told him. "That's what's been different about you."

For a change, everybody was looking at James. "All that time on the island, your Buddha act. It was always there, even when you were trying to stay normal. Your soul is no longer in touch with the universe."

"That's a weird way of putting, James," Locke was smiling for the first time in a while. "But I spent six months on a commune in Bridgeport, so I get what you're trying to say."

"So what did you do afterwards?" Hurley asked.

"I did something that all of you should remember," Locke said. "I just stood there and looked out at the ocean. The first few days after the crash, it had given me peace. I thought it might do it now that I really needed it."

"Did it work?" Kate asked.

"I'm not sure how long I stood there. Maybe it was just a few minutes; maybe it was hours. And I wasn't calm. I was just… exhausted. Maybe I was hoping the island would send me a sign."

The last person who would have asked him this question on the island did now. "Did it, John?" Jack asked.

"I honestly don't know," Locke said. "But someone else did come."

WHOOOSH

"You know, it's a good thing I found you and not my husband."

It wasn't the last voice he had expected to ever hear, but it still gave John a hell of a shock.

"I mean, he was just doing this to help his friends," Rose said in that matter-of-fact way that John hadn't heard in so long. "We were never going to leave, so I guess for us, it was academic. But you're lucky you weren't there when we met in the jungle. He still had his shotgun."

Locke recovered his ability to speak. "Rose? Where have you been all this time?"

"Nowhere special," Even after everything that had happened while they were there, Rose seemed absolutely unchanged. "After everybody else left, the Others have been leaving us alone. You didn't have anything to do with that, did you John?"

Locke was about to talk when he realized that he didn't know what to say. The last time he had seen Rose, he'd been throwing a knife into Naomi's back. He'd assumed that, just like the rest of the survivors, she'd decided to condemn him. But here she was, and she didn't seem to have changed a bit.

"A lot's happened in the last few months, Rose," he said quietly.

"Is it as bad as when you made the sky turn purple? You know, Bernard nearly got his head cut off by the hatch," Rose seemed really calm given all of the painful memories. "Why exactly did you stop pushing the button?"

He'd been so sure of himself when he'd told Desmond about it – God, was it only four months ago? – and somehow he didn't think just saying 'I was wrong' would cut it. "I didn't believe any more."

"In this place or yourself?"

For the first time all day, Locke found himself smiling. "You would have made a good psychiatrist," he said quietly. "Me. I think."

"Well, we all have those doubts occasionally. You wouldn't be human if you weren't," Rose looked at him. "You having those same doubts now?"

Locke nodded. "Times a thousand."

"Well, why don't you help me with the wash and maybe you can tell me about it."

"It's a long story."

Rose gave a knowing smile. "I've got a lot of laundry."

WHOOOSH

In the same way her presence had proved a calming influence to Locke on the island, just hearing about Rose made everybody feel better. No one had problem with Hurley, but Rose's faith had never been as maddening as Locke was. Her inner peace was something everyone admired, probably because they could never emulate it.

"How were they doing?" Hurley asked.

"After the rest of you left, she and Bernard had done what they were planning to do. Find a nice, quiet place out of the traffic of the island, and retire." Locke looked at Walt. "They were even taking care of Vincent."

Walt looked genuinely glad at that small revelation.

"I hadn't exactly given orders that they were to be untouched, " Locke continued, "but after hearing what Ben had wanted done to the ones left on the beach, I wanted it to be absolutely clear that no one who stayed behind was to be bothered. They didn't have a problem with that."

"So what did you tell them?" Kate asked.

"It took me awhile to get there. Mainly because she didn't want to know that much."

WHOOOSH

"You're really not interested?" Locke asked.

"I know this place healed me. That it's special," Rose said as she began to hang up the laundry. "Beyond that, what else do you need to know?"

"I've spent much of my time on this island feeling the same way," Locke admitted. "That I had a destiny, and that it was this island. But I've seen a lot the last few months, Rose, and I have to admit, it's shaken my belief."

"I'm not surprised," Rose said quietly. "It's easy to believe in God than it is to really know him. I had faith that I knew I was going to see Bernard again. Not because anybody told me, I'll see him two months after I survived a plane crash, but because I knew he was alive. You can't let yourself get obsessed about the details, John."

"I'm pretty sure all of our friends would've felt very differently," John said.

"And that was their right. They didn't see this place the way you and I do." Rose turned at looked at John. "When I told Bernard, he understood in an instant. Because I was his world, and he is mine. But the rest of them, they never got how special it was. All they saw was how strange it is. And when you live in the world we do, when we can't accept what we're seeing unless we can explain it, then its scary. Add in the fact that most of them had a reason to want to go home. My reason was on the plane was with me. Once we were together again, I didn't need anything else."

Locke looked at Rose. "My reason has always been this island, Rose. That this place needs to be protected."

"And you did some pretty shameful things in the name of protecting it," Rose said matter-of-factly. "Oh, I won't judge you, John – I figure you've had enough of that from everybody else – but still, you made the same mistake everybody else did."

John waited.

"You didn't tell anybody what you were before," Rose said. "Oh, I can't exactly judge either – I never told anybody else what was wrong with me and why it was right here - but you never shared. In case you hadn't noticed, every time things worked on the island, they worked when we were together."

Locke gave a small smile. "I guess you heard Jack's speech."

"He had his flaws too, but he tried. You know, the two of you were more alike then you knew. Probably why you didn't get along." Rose looked at him. "The difference was, he believed in letting others help. You, you were always off on your own. Hunting boar, trying to open the hatch, pressing the button. You never seemed to care about what the rest of us were going through. You were always alone, even when you were with people."

There was a lot of truth in that statement, a lot more than John wanted to admit. "What if I told you that you were never supposed to be here?" he said slowly. "That because some people were and they came here, and you and your husband were just collateral damage?"

Rose honestly seemed to consider this for a minute. Finally she answered in her succinct fashion. "So what?"

This was a level of devotion that not even Locke had ever been capable of.

"My husband took us on our honeymoon in Australia because he wanted to fix me," Rose said calmly. "And because he did, I'm healthy again, and I can spend the rest of my life with the man I love. Now if that was just some kind of divine accident, then I'm willing to accept it as part of a bigger plan that I just couldn't see. That's what faith is, John."

Locke looked at Rose. "Has anyone ever told you're a very wise woman?"

"Every day I was married." Rose said with a smile.

For the first time he wondered what Helen would've thought of the island. Would she have seen it the same way he did? She was the one who'd taught him to believe, after all. And now the familiar ache was there. He hadn't seen her in more than a decade, but now he realized if he followed his path, he really never would see her again.

"Well, I have to go now," Rose said. "My husband gets a little worried when were apart for too long. Probably because he went to the bathroom at the wrong time."

Locke looked at her. "I hope I'll see you again soon, Rose."

"Not for a couple more weeks." Rose must've noticed his puzzled look because she added: "It's going to take a little longer to convince Bernard that he was wrong about you."

"Don't be too sure of that," Locke said. "I'm still not completely sure he was wrong about me."

WHOOOSH

Jack shook his head. "Rose always knew the right thing to say. "

"Well, back then she had better bedside manner than you," Hurley reminded him.

"When you brought me back to your camp," Juliet said softly to Jack. "She was the only one of you who never judged me. I always felt extra guilty when I was talking to her. Really makes me wish I'd gotten to know her better."

Jack looked at Locke. "You are going to tell us what happened to her and Bernard, aren't you?"

"Believe me, it's vital to my story," Locke assured them. "But right now, I think I've given all of you a lot to deal with, so it may be a good idea to stop talking about the island for awhile."

"I ain't the religious type, but amen to that," James said quietly. "I'm still pretty pissed at that Jacob guy watching me as if we were on some giant episode of Big Brother."

"Even after what Rose told me, it took me five days just to feel reasonable again, James," Locke admitted. "I suspect I've given you all a few sleepless nights, and for that I'm truly sorry."

"You're just the messenger, John," Claire said, gently taking John's hand.

"I think he remembers what used to happen to people who brought bad news," Sayid pointed out. "I had to deal with the same thing myself more than once."

"Well, considering Johnny didn't like what he saw any more than we would've," James admitted. "Can't say I blame him."

Just then, Hurley's cell rang. He was a little sheepish, then he looked at the caller ID and was puzzled. DESMOND.

Desmond had been only been to one of the meetings that had taken place since Locke's original return. This was understandable as he and his family lived on the other side of the world. He'd been planning to come this weekend, but that morning he'd called and said there was something else he had to deal with. None of them had any idea what that meant and Des, for once, had been reluctant to enlighten them.

Hurley answered his cell. "Yeah?" A long pause. "Dude, slow down." He was quiet for a moment. "Yeah, we're all here. I'll put you on speaker."

There was another hesitation. "We may have another problem," Desmond said slowly.

"When don't we?" James mumbled.

"Desmond, what's going on?"

"It's about the church."

James suddenly stiffened and so did Sayid. They knew better than the rest what this might be about. "Did you find something there?" Sayid demanded.

"Aye," Desmond enunciated. "I don't know what the hell it is, but I know for damn sure why you found that meddling woman there."

James was puzzled. "But we searched that place. We couldn't find a goddamn thing tying it to the island."

"Like everything else on that blasted place, it was basically right there if you knew where to look for it." Desmond was clearly angry. He'd wanted to be done with the island more than any of them.

"What did you find?" Jack asked.

Desmond sighed. "Much as I want to just burn the place down and salt the earth, I think you all need to see it for yourselves. Can't promise it will answer any question, but it might give us a clue as to what the sodding hell was going on there."

Jack looked at his watch. 5:30 pm. "Will anyone be suspicious if almost all the survivors of Oceanic 815 show in the same place?"

There was a hesitation, and then Penny spoke. "There've been construction signs put up around the church for the last two weeks. That said, I think you'd better make sure you don't all show up at once."

"Penny, its John," Locke spoke up for the first time. "I appreciate your caution, but I think we all know that we're not just concerned about paparazzi."

"I'm well aware of that," Penny admitted. "But I think if Eloise Hawking knew about this place, it's a pretty safe bet that Ben and his people did too. We've got security for that."

Even though Hurley had taken over leadership for the last year or so, this was one of those occasions that, once again, everybody was looking to Jack. He didn't like it, but he knew it counted. "Give us an hour," he finally said. "And watch your backs."

"You got it, brutha." Desmond said, and hung up.

Jack shook his head, and looked at Locke. They'd told him about the church when they had revealed the story about Widmore a couple of weeks earlier, but they had yet to take him to the place. "Call Helen," he said quietly. "Tell her the truth."

"She's going to be worried," Locke said slowly.

"Tell her you'll be safe with us," Kate said, walking up to John. "She probably won't believe it, but she will feel better knowing you're not alone."

Locke nodded.

Sayid walked up to Jack. "Do you think we're in danger?"

"No more than we were ten minutes ago," Jack said as calmly as he could manage. "But even if we are, that's never stopped us before."

Kate shook her head. "We just can't run away from it, can we?"

"Says the expert at running," James admitted with a bit of his old snark. He turned serious, and looked at Juliet. "You have my back, Blondie?"

"Just as long as this doesn't lead us on a way trip to the South Pacific," Juliet said with as much humor as she could muster.

Michael looked at his son. "You don't want to see this, you don't have to," he told Walt.

Walt actually seemed to think about for a moment. "I don't want to go back," he told his father. "But I don't want to be in the dark either. Just stay with me while were there, okay Dad?"

Jin and Sun walked over to Sayid. "Call Nadia," Sun said softly. "Tell her to go to our house and stay with the nanny and Ji Yeon."

Sayid looked at them. "I thought we weren't in danger."

"We're not," Jin said. "But she probably shouldn't be alone at a time like this."

"Better still," Hurley said. "Tell all of them to come here. Helen, Nadia, your nanny, everybody."

"You sure about that, Hurley?" Jin said.

"Dude, we stay together. That applies to our loved ones, too." Hurley said firmly.

Jack looked at John, who'd heard this part of the conversation. He nodded. "Ready for one more trek down the rabbit hole?" Jack said quietly.

Locke gave a small smile. "Actually, part of me missed watching you give orders."

James piped up. "That's the least believable thing you've said yet."