Chapter 14

"You really think we all could've avoided this if we'd just seen a shrink?" James said doubtfully.

"Maybe," Hurley said. "Like it or not, my time at Santa Rosa did help me get through a major trauma. Granted, it also put me right in line for another one so, maybe it was a tradeoff."

"More than a couple of people – my first wife among them – thought I should've gone into counseling a couple of times," Jack admitted quietly. "But Meredith and the others are right. There's always been some kind of stigma among surgeons about taking psych seriously. I was no less guilty of it than I said they were."

Locke nodded and brought Hurley a soda. "I was diagnosed with depression in 1998," he said as he sat down. "Given my family history and everything else I'd gone through to that point, I probably should've taken therapy more seriously."

"Why'd you quit?" Kate asked.

"I don't know if it's possible to be too depressed to take therapy seriously, but that's where I was," Locke admitted. "So I stopped going in the fall of '99. Little did I know I was soon going to have a lot more to be depressed about."

It was the weekly gathering of the survivors, and they had just finished eating at Sun and Jin's house. The conversation had, for a change, gone to seeing if there had been any points in their lives that might have been able to dodge destiny. Callie had suggested, given all of the trauma that they had gone through prior to heading to Australia in the first place, that maybe it could've been avoided by going to therapy.

"Maybe if it had been an option back when I was a kid," James pondered. "Back then, therapy was considered worse than actually having something wrong with you. My uncle tried the best he could, but he was of the generation that the past was the past. And by the time I was old enough…"

"You were past thinking that way," Kate said slowly. "I should have gone a dozen times or more growing up. God knows the situation with my…Wayne was the kind of thing that therapy could've dealt with. But instead, I focused all my energy on getting out. And by the time, I actually could have done something, it was too late."

Walt spoke up. "It might've helped. Even when I was in the institution, there were people who were willing to listen. But it only works if you're willing to talk. Would you have told them about what was happening to your mom?"

Kate thought about it. "When I was fourteen, I got in another one of those fights that I had so often during junior high. Back then, they usually just sent to the principal, but this time for some reason, I went to the guidance counselor."

"Your school had one of those?" James asked.

"Fairly new. She'd only been there a few months." Kate said. "Honestly, she looked more like a librarian who couldn't get the job she wanted. She certainly seemed like she'd been thrown in the deep end. She asked me my name, few questions, seemed like we were going through the motions. Then she says: 'What are you really doing here, Katie?'

"It was the 'Katie' that got me. Only my father called me Katie. And it got under my skin a little, 'because I told her I was tired. I told her I hated where I lived, of always being the bad girl with the white trash family. I told her that I just wanted to leave."

'And go where?' she asked.

"Of course, I didn't have an answer. All I wanted to do was run away. I had no idea where I wanted to go."

"Something that would be true for most of your life as a grownup, Freckles," James reminded her gently.

"I might have gone on a little further, but about a minute later the phone rang. My stepfather had come to pick me up. And I just deflated," Kate said. "I told her never mind, and I walked out the door. I never went back to anyone like her, all the way through high school. Hell, until the crash, the only other person I ever came close to confiding my secrets was the Marshal."

"I'll admit, that is pretty sad," Juliet owned.

"I honestly think the American obsession with psychology has its benefits," Sayid said. "I certainly should have seen somebody half a dozen times before I left the Guard. I'd been dealing with post-traumatic stress even before I became a torturer. But everybody about the culture considered it a weakness in itself."

"I gotta feeling that's in every military on Earth," James told him. "Soldiers in our armies have never gotten the help they need after wartime. We have to support the troops when they're overseas. When they're home, they're somebody else's problem." He looked at Jin and Sun. "I don't know what the cultural bias towards therapy in Seoul is in general, but given what you two have told us, couples counseling probably wasn't an option."

Jin nodded. "The irony is, we both knew what the problem was in our marriage, and neither of us could do anything about it."

"I should've been more careful going forward," Sun admitted. "I knew what my father was and I said it was alright when Jin went to work for him. We both withdrew and thought of escape rather then discussion."

"The closest I ever was willing to consider an alternative before the plane was to try and have a child," Jin said. "I thought if he had a grandchild, Sun's father might ease up."

Sun quickly looked at Juliet. "It probably wouldn't have worked. My father didn't see me as a person. He probably would've felt the same for Ji Yeon. That's why I made sure we were out of his grip before she was born."

"I grant you, we all had issues going forward," Juliet admitted. "But you've got to remember, especially in psychiatry, it takes two to swing dance."

There was a little confusion, but Locke and James got it instantly. "What kind of therapist was Harper?" John asked.

"I have a feeling I'd have been better served if she'd gotten her degree from Dharma," Juliet told them. "From the moment I met her, she always seemed to be digging more than she was trying to help. I was never entirely sure she wasn't spilling her secrets to Ben, even though based on what you told me, she didn't like him any more than I did."

"And this was before you started, you know…" Hurley trailed off.

"Banging her husband?" Juliet finished brusquely. "You know, I would've loved to know how Goodwin and Harper ended up together in the first place because I never saw them get along even before I became, well, the Other woman. Goodwin even admitted he'd been sleeping on the couch a year before we began our affair. She knew I was sleeping with him, and she was concerned with him being hurt, but Ben finding out."

"To be fair," James said gently "you didn't exactly end things when she told you she knew."

"The irony is, as a doctor I actually knew where part of the trauma was," Juliet said. "Rachel and I, our parents got divorced when we were young. Rachel could deal with it; I was in denial. Now it isn't exactly a hard and fast rule that the children of divorced parents will have failed relationships, but until I left the island that seemed pretty much what my life was like. I got married to Edmund, who belittled me, had affairs when we were married, and never respected me. Even after we got divorced, he still dominated every aspect of my life." She hesitated. "I don't if Richard and Ethan had that in my file when they went to recruit me, but it is possible."

"They did seem to have a certain type in mind," Locke admitted.

"I get to the island, and I'm being pulled by Goodwin and Ben. Ben is clearly obsessed with me – to this day, I still don't know why – and Goodwin was a port in a storm. Even after what Harper told me, the affair didn't end, so it just kept going until one of the men got rid of the other, pun definitely not intended."

"I never could tell just how much Ben was pulling your strings," Kate admitted.

Jack paused. "You were the only one who wanted me to kill him?" he said carefully. "The instant I put him in jeopardy, everybody acted to save his life. Somehow I don't think if they thought it was 'time for a change' Tom would have been that upset."

Juliet paused for a long time. "I'm frankly amazed Tom didn't have me before Isabel right then," she admitted. "Hell, Ben must've heard it, and still didn't do anything."

"Given the way that rat-bastard reasoned, you might've actually gone up in his estimation," James pointed out.

"And considering how he got his job in the first place, you might have actually impressed him," Locke said.

"Even as I moved towards independence, that bastard was still pulling my strings," Juliet said. "He probably only let me live so he could use me later."

Kate paused. "Why did he focus on using you to try and manipulate Jack?" she asked. "What exactly was in that file that you used to make him trust you so much?"

"You're asking me to explain Ben's psychology and I can't," Juliet admitted. "The original plan was for me to win your confidence. It was going to take two weeks, which is why we planned to use you and James to try and do our busy work."

"That stupid runway," James said.

"After Colleen was shot," Juliet said softly. "we improvised. There was no one else who could operate besides me. And I was in such a hurry I never bothered to take down the x-rays I'd done before. I didn't think you'd make the connection that they were Ben's though."

"I might not have figured it out if I hadn't seen them," Jack admitted. "I knew the only reason that son-of-a-bitch would be so bold to offer me a trip home – the one thing his people had been thwarting for two months – was if there was something that mattered to him. And the only thing that did matter to him more than Alex was his life."

"How close was he to dying?" Locke asked almost casually.

"Given the position and the growth of his tumor, if I hadn't operated, he'd been bedridden within a week and probably dead in a month or so," Jack said just as casually.

"Then clearly Blondie chose the wrong strategy," James said. "Rather than try to kill him during surgery, you should've held up cards saying: 'Wait him out.' Would've gotten what you wanted. Hell, maybe the new leader would've let you go home with no strings attached."

"You think they would've reached out to you then?" Hurley asked Locke. "I mean, Alpert had you on his short list."

Locke looked at him. "Richard's position on the island was complicated," he reminded them. "He was the adviser to the leader of the Others, but he still answered to Jacob. I never figured out how he handled the role. My guess is he could've used a therapist himself. Trust me, despite his calm exterior, Richard was torn up a lot of the time."

"He wouldn't have gotten it from Harper," Juliet said. "But I see your point. There must've been a lot of stress in being in his position."

"There were intervals when the Others had no clear leader," Locke said. "I've already told you what he did to try and seek people like myself and Ben out. But during those periods, he stepped as interim leader. And there were people who assumed he was. Remember, he represented all interactions between the Others and the Dharma Initiative when they were on the island. But power never went to his head. He chose Ben to replace Widmore because of his devotion to the island. And he must've been having doubts about him for awhile before he came to me. If I had to guess when they solidified, it's when Ben got a tumor on his spine."

"Why would an island that healed the sick want a leader who had cancer?" Claire said slowly.

"I called Ben on that the night I defected," Locke admitted. "All things considered, that's the real reason I went with Kate and Sayid to rescue you."

"Probably it was for the best," Hurley said softly. "No offense, but when you stepped in after we were taken, you kind of sucked at being ours."

Locke gave a smile. "Hard to be a good leader when you're doing everything on your own."

"It's just as hard to be one when you won't take anyone else's advice," Jack said with a smile of his own.

"In any case, Richard said he encountered Ben in the jungle when he was just a boy," Locke said. "Richard could tell there was something special about him. He probably would've reached out to me himself, but he'd been running errands for Ben the last few weeks, and he didn't realize how special I was until he read my file around the time Ben ordered the kidnapping. Then he knew it was 'time for a change'. He'd probably have visited himself had we not just knocked on his door."

"I'm guessing Ben's maneuvers with you and me were his last ditch play for power," Juliet said.

"That and shooting me in the gut," Locke said. "I'm still not sure how he planned to persuade Jack by trying to talk you down."

"He was holding Jin, Sayid and Bernard at gunpoint, remember?" Jack looked at his friends. "As long as that minute was for me, I can't begin to imagine how long it was for you."

"You don't negotiate with terrorists," Sayid said. "I said I was willing to give my life to achieve rescue. " He looked at Jin and Sun. "In retrospect, I might've tried to recruit people who didn't have families."

"Or better aim," Jin said, with a rare touch of humor. Sun slapped his arm.

"Well, from what I remember, you gave the bastard a hell of an ass-whupping," James said. "Almost wished I'd stayed behind to see it. Course, if I had…"

"I'd still have saved the day, remember?" Hurley said.

Locke shook his head. "I believe in destiny, and even I'm still not sure of how you happened to find a Dharma vehicle that close to camp, much less you managing to get it to work."

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you for awhile, "Hurley said slowly. "You told us everybody who died in the Purge was left in a pit." Locke nodded. "That's clearly not true, because, well I found that car, and…" Hurley jumped. "What was Ben's father name?"

"No idea, Hugo," Locke paused. "You think that Ben's father was in your car?"

"The name on the badge was Roger," Hurley said. "Silly me, I thought 'Workman' was his last name. I know this is something you may not know, but the Purge has to have happened in the Barracks, right?"

Sayid nodded. "Which was at least two days walk away from our camp. That said if you had a vehicle to could travel that distance much more quickly. You find anything in the car that gave you clues?"

"I was never a CSI," Hurley said. "And there wasn't much there. Three six-packs of Dharma beer and an eight track in the radio."

"My guess is we'll never know the answer to that question," Locke said. "Maybe we should count our blessings for that. But to the larger point, Ben probably could've used therapy more than anybody else on that island."

"If someone could get past, you know, his being a pathological liar," Jack reminded them. "If not an outright sociopath."

"Nobody starts out being a monster," Juliet said surprisingly. "All of start out as a blank slate. There are decisions we make a long the way that make us who we are."

"You're not defending him are you?" James said.

"Oh, God no. Ben was a megalomaniac who believed in total control, and that was just when I knew him," Juliet said casually. "If what John said is true, he's responsible for nothing short of genocide. But he was brought to the island like all of you. Maybe at some point, Jacob thought he was special and worthy. That opinion must've dropped over time, though."

"Did Jacob want Zach and Emma there?" Walt asked. He was looking at Juliet.

"I'm pretty sure that was Ben," Juliet said.

"Why are you so sure of that?" Walt asked.

"Because Ben's interest was in children, not Jacob's. When Goodwin told us about that there were two children younger than ten on the island, Ben was the one who insisted they be taken. In fact, he made it very clear to both him and Ethan. Any surviving child was to be taken. And that was before he knew how special you were."

Michael looked at Juliet. "If you knew he was that evil, why'd you basically tell me to rescue him?"

"I was hoping it would be too late. Or that you'd make some kind of mistake." Juliet said bluntly. "We knew Ben was your prisoner, but we had no idea he was going to spin that Henry Gale crap. I knew he was a hell of a liar, but this was a story I didn't think anybody would buy."

"I never did," Sayid said. "Neither did Danielle."

"Did you know anything about it?" James asked.

"A year earlier, Ryan and Danny had been doing a patrol of the island. They found the balloon and Henry on it. They were about as friendly to him as they were to you." Juliet told them.

"Because he was an invader?"

"Because they suspected someone had sent him." Juliet said. "I don't know if you noticed who one of the companies that built the balloon you found was."

Sayid thought for several moments. "I didn't think it was important, but one of the names on the basket was Widmore Industries."

"They knew what it meant," Juliet reminded them. "My guess is Ben chose that identity as some kind of twisted inside joke." She looked at Michael. "I told you Ben's real name. Maybe it was twisted psychology on my part, but I thought maybe you'd just tell them the truth, and they'd use it on him. Hell, maybe someone would've just killed them."

"Lest you forget, it almost happened anyway," Michael closed his eyes. "Hell, maybe if Ana Lucia had just followed through before I'd gotten there, it would've saved all of us a huge amount of headaches."

Jack looked up at him. "You might never have gotten Walt back," he said slowly.

"I'd have had to start from scratch," Michael said slowly. "I could've told the truth about what had really happened to me, taken who I needed to lead a proper rescue mission, Ana Lucia and…" He couldn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to.

"What's done is done," James said. "But hell, we could've gotten the rest of our people back.

"They weren't there, remember?" Juliet said.

"Another con brought to you by New Otherton Productions," James said.

"What exactly was that village for?" Sayid asked. "There's no way even Ben's people could've designed it that quickly."

"He didn't." Juliet said. "That was a holdover from the previous leadership during the Dharma years. It was one of the areas that Dharma wouldn't visit. After the Purge, it fell out of disuse, so Bea decided it would be a good place to run whatever tests on Walt she could."

"What exactly was her position with the Others?" Michael asked.

"I actually didn't work with her that much," Juliet said. "But I got the feeling that she was higher up in the leadership ranks than the rest. According to Richard, she'd actually been with the Others even longer than Ben had been."

"Well, she was loyal to the cause," Kate admitted. "I don't know Russian, but her last words were pretty much orders to Mikhail to have her killed rather than be taken prisoner. I'm pretty sure not even Ben would've been willing to go that far."

"Yeah, what the hell was she even doing that week we were on Hydra Island?" James asked Juliet. "She was the only one of you who took us prisoner who we never saw."

"She was working with Mikhail" Juliet said. "After the sky turned purple and our satellites went down, she was one of the few of us who had any expertise in getting them working. She went out there the day after, but as you know, it didn't work. I never saw her again."

"Maybe it was more than that," Michael said. "The week I was being held captive, she led all the questioning about Walt. And if your people really did have files on all of us, there's no way you wouldn't have known that I hadn't seen my son in eight years."

Indeed, this part had never really added up for any of them. They'd known about Jack's marriage, why Kate had been on the run, who had put in Locke in his wheelchair, and how'd he been connected to James. They'd known what Sayid had done in Basra and how long Hurley had spent in Santa Rosa. So the fact that Walt had been raised by his mother all his childhood should've come up with no digging at all.

"I have to tell you, by the time they took you prisoner, the only one who was still devoted to getting information about Walt was Bea. Even Ben was having doubts about his usefulness," Juliet paused. "Hell, most of us were scared out of her minds by what we were seeing."

"Good for you, Junior," James slapped Walt's hand. Then he looked at his wife. "I'm sorry, but considering the shit you'd already put us through, and we didn't even know who the hell you were…"

"I actually agree with James on that one," Jack said. "I mean, we did try to get you back before Michael showed up – Ana and I were trying to raise an army to do it – but if I'd known you were scaring them more than we possibly could…"

Walt smiled. "I was trying to find a way to send you a message," he said. "I didn't know what happened to Dad was, so I was trying to get to Vincent." He looked at Sayid. "I did see Shannon. I tried to tell her where I was, but just getting myself to Vincent took a tremendous out of energy. I could only do it for a couple of seconds."

Sayid looked into the distance. They all knew he was seeing Shannon's dead body. "I should've known that was what Danielle was trying to tell us the night you left," he said softly.

"There's no way you could've known, "Jack said. "Considering everything Rousseau told us about her encounter with the Others and that Claire had just given birth, the logical assumption was that they were coming for Aaron." He didn't add that, given how delusional Rousseau had been, logic was never going to be a word anyone associated with her. Charlie had spent the next few days publicly excoriating her, and after the Others had never shown that night, they had naturally assumed she had been wrong. None of them had even given a thought to Danielle until she had returned to the camp, and even then, only Sayid seemed to be taking her seriously.

"What did Zack and Emma end up telling you when you saw them?" Sayid said, changing the subject slightly.

"They were kept in isolation pretty much those first couple of weeks," Walt said. "The main person who went to see them was Alex, but after a few days she stopped coming. According to her, she kept getting more pissed off every time she saw them."

"Alex was going through a rebellious phase even before Ben decided to take Karl prisoner," Juliet said bluntly. "Ben may have thought it would help if she was around people closer to her own age, but it backfired. Spectacularly. After her first meeting, she got right in his face and asked why the hell we took them. The idea that Jacob wanted them didn't exactly pacify her."

"As well it shouldn't have," Locke added.

"Is that why she got me away from Ethan?" Claire asked.

"If anything, that made her angrier," Juliet said. "I don't know if she had any suspicions that Ben wasn't her real father by then, but when she learned what Ethan was doing, she disappeared for three days. Ethan was livid. He actually got into a roaring fight with Ben the day after Claire got away. I actually heard the last two lines.

'Watch what you say about my daughter.'

'You can lie to the rest of them, but not to me. I know who she is and why she's here.'

"I still don't know what he meant by that, but the next day Ben sent him out. 'If you don't get her back, don't bother coming back.'

"That explains why he threatened Charlie so severely," Sayid said. "As well as why he fell into such an obvious trap."

"Ben had never gotten angry with Alex the three years I was there. But he got a lot more determined after that. Two days later, he exiled Karl to Hydra Island." Juliet looked at Michael. "Up until that point, he'd never involved Alex in anything dangerous. When he made his plan to kidnap you, he made sure that she was there."

Michael shook his head. "Even under extreme stress, I could tell there was something different about her. She asked about Claire and whether she had the baby. When they brought Kate out, she begged off having to actually bring her out to you guys. She wanted to be there almost as little as I did."

"That may have been the straw that broke the camel's back," Juliet said. "She was ordered to go to the village where we were keeping you and Walt prisoner. Instead, she ran back to the Barracks only to find that Ben was gone. Some of us were worried about what might happen to him. I think she might've been the only one rooting for Sayid or someone else to break him in half."

"You weren't hoping for that, Blondie?" James said with a raised eyebrow.

"I still thought he was my best hope of leaving the island," Juliet replied. "Which doesn't mean I didn't take a vicarious joy in your putting him through the meat grinder."

"Alex spent much of the next week trying to find out what happened to Karl. She'd spent some time on Hydra Island in the past, but she didn't understand why he was being punished in the first place. The first words out of her mouth when Ben showed up were not: "Glad to see you, Dad,", but 'Where the hell is my boyfriend?'

"I'll bet that hurt Daddy Dearest's feelings," James said.

"You're assuming he had any." Kate said. "Is that the reason she was on the dock with the rest of your group?"

Juliet nodded. "And I didn't understand the logic at all. But I was in no condition to say anything. Ben had already sent me to Hydra to prep the place for the three of you."

"Did you agree with his particular form of birth control?" Jack asked.

Juliet sighed. "From my perspective, I got the logic. If Karl and Alex got too close, there was a chance she could become pregnant. And I knew that was a death sentence. I do, however, believe there were other methods than locking him in a polar bear cage – one which, by the way, I knew he could escape from. Ben then told Tom to put him somewhere out of the way. I had no idea he was going to have Karl brainwashed for three days." She put her head in her hands. "Of course, Ben had put me in charge of dealing with our new guests, so I wasn't giving it my full attention."

"And when she showed up, you and your gang pretty much treated her with kid gloves even though she was running roughshod over you at the time," Kate said. "Was Ben just focused on getting Jack to operate, or did he genuinely not care?"

"Oh he cared," Juliet said. "He never showed it particularly well though last few weeks, but he gave a damn."

"I am sorry I involved her in what I was doing," Locke said sincerely. "I was focused on what I was doing, but it doesn't change the fact I put a gun to a teenage girl's head. She didn't seem that scared, but it clearly unnerved Ben. It was one of the few times I actually saw that happen. He loved her, however poorly he showed it."

"All of us had daddy issues going on to that island," James reminded him. "I'm guessing that Ben had 'em too. And I guess that he overcorrected with Alex. Hell, she wanted to get away from him as badly as we did. I'm still not sure why she changed her mind at the last minute."

"She was in love with Karl," Juliet said simply. "And as we all know, after that she was never on Ben's side again. We might not all be here if she hadn't been."

"I'd say she'd need therapy too, but she's with her mom and her boyfriend," Hurley said. "My guess is she's doing just fine."

Walt shook his head. "I'm going to need to have a lot of long conversations with Zack and Emma to see if they can come out the other side."

Hurley nodded. "What did they end up telling their parents?"

"Their mom and dad were so glad to see them after nearly a year of thinking they were dead that they haven't really pressed them that hard on what happened," Walt said. "Which is actually pretty good. They've spent the last few months trying to adjust to being back in the real world. They've done everything in their power to keep the media away from them. Last thing they want is to, you know, traumatize them some more. And because they were gone for so long, there aren't a lot of people who recognize them from the flight."

Jack looked at them. "Did you tell them to tell their parents the truth?"

"If no one was going to believe what actually happened from a group of adults, they're never going to take seriously what an eleven year old and a nine year old said," Walt told them. "They keep saying they don't remember what happened to them the year they were missing and their parents are just so glad to see them they don't care." Walt looked at Locke. "But they do."

"Was it bad?" Hurley asked. "I mean, being kidnapped is horrible, but what exactly did they make them do."

"Nothing horrible," Juliet said. "I took care of them after Alex refused any further involvement. In fact, I actually told Ben that he'd be better served letting them go home, and what to tell them about seeing their parents. He said: 'Eventually, they'd stop asking.'" She looked at them. "As long as I was there, they didn't. Of course, after we took Cindy, she took over watching them."

"Is that why they took her?" Jin asked.

"No idea. Her name was never on any list. But after she joined us, they weren't my responsibility any more." Juliet said. "Ben sent them to the Temple. I have no idea what happened to them there, but given how quickly Cindy switched sides, I don't think it was anything good."

Locke shook his head. "She actually welcomed me when I was going through my introduction to the Others. 'We've been waiting for you for a long time.' I recognized her from the flight. So I was even more baffled how she had been welcomed in less time than it was taking me."

"Did you ask her about coming back with the rest?" Jack asked.

"I did. She told me that this place was the best place she'd ever lived. I didn't ask again, just told Bernard and Rose to look after her." Locke paused. "She also said she had nothing to go home too. Considering that was my argument most of the time, I didn't put up a fight."

Jack hesitated. "Well, we're glad you did." He hesitated. "Are you sure you're ready for what's coming?"

Locke thought for a moment. "Probably not. But as long as I have Helen and the rest of you, I'll be fine."

"All right." Jack got to his feet and got out his phone.

Locke looked around. "Are you all ready to get back in the limelight?"

Kate thought for a second. "We've never truly left it. It's diminished a bit over the last year or so, but given how the media works, it would happen eventually."

"It's hard, but you get used to it eventually." He hesitated. "Of course, the first time it happened, a meteor killed the reporter covering my story."

"That's what happened at the Mr. Cluck?" Callie said.

"Well, either that or an asteroid, I don't really know the difference." Hurley admitted. "But my luck's gotten better since then, so I'm sure you'll be fine."

Locke gave a small smile. "You know, you still owe me for sending Randy to Tustin."

"Don't worry. After you came back, I let him go."

"You think he might cause trouble?" James asked.

"I gave him a very generous severance package. He'll be quiet." The looks must've been obvious. "I said it was because if it wasn't for me, he might've been killed that day. I even apologized to the little douche."

They knew Randy must've been a horrible boss; Hurley had found nice things to say about everybody except his former employer.

Jack walked back into the room. "Alan arranged for the press conference at noon tomorrow," he finally said.

"He's sure everything will work out okay on your end?" Locke asked.

"The trail has been covered. He figures some in the media will do some digging, but it's going to take a lot of work for them to find out the real diagnosis in 2000." Jack assured him.

Locke got to his feet. "Then I think I'd better get ready for my close-up." He turned around. "Thank you all for being here tonight and for agreeing to be there tomorrow."

"It's what friends do." James paused. "Gandhi."

Everybody laughed a little. James hadn't given up on the nicknames the last couple of years, but he'd made an effort to make them less offensive.

"You're actually calling me a friend?" Locke raised an eyebrow.

"Which do you find more remarkable?" Juliet said. "That he's calling you a friend or that he has them in the first place?"

"No respect. No fricking respect." James said, shaking his head. "Just be sure that the camera doesn't pick up any glare from your head tomorrow."

"I'll ask Helen to give it a good buffing," Locke said with a smile.

"Hell, he's got a sense of humor. That's even weirder." James said.

"Helen always said she liked bald men." Locke gave a broader smile. "And that was when I actually had most of my hair."

"There's a lot I can say about that." James said slowly. "But I'll wait til tomorrow."

"Thank heavens for small favors." Jack said with relief.