Chapter 10

"If I'd known you were as good a gardener as you were a hunter, I might have asked you for help along the way," Sun said to Locke.

Locke smiled. "I'm not entirely sure if the herbs we were growing in Bridgeport were legal in Seoul." He looked at the greens they had gotten, "These should suit our needs."

"I'm kind of shocked you haven't come out with any smart talk yet," Juliet said as she helped James clear the space they were going to use.

"You do remember the shit that happened to us on the island?" James reminded her. "We have neighbors who pay good money for this kind of thing. This wouldn't rate a typical Wednesday when we were stranded. Doc!" he yelled. "You got the wood?"

"You asked me to do that job just so you could that say to me, didn't you?" Jack said as he came out with a small stack.

"One of the perks," James admitted.

"You honestly think this might work?" Jack said.

"Don't tell me the sky's gonna have to turn purple for you start doubting this again," Jin said.

"If one of us we're doing it, I wouldn't have any doubts," Jack said frankly. "I'm just not entirely sold this'll work for Izzie."

James thought for a moment. "That book club had two weeks ago. Remember I told you that It was one of my favorite King books?"

"I had trouble with it," Jack said.

"It was over a thousand pages. Wouldn't blame you if you gave up on it," James said.

"It wasn't the thousand pages as much as it was around the last hundred," Jack looked at James who clearly got the point.

Kate didn't. "Care to share with those of us who got chills seeing the mini-series?"

James actually winced. "Remember when I told you that Judy Blume book didn't have nearly enough sex? Imagine if Margaret decided to have sex at her age, and multiply it by six."

Kate looked at James, clearly thinking he was kidding. "He's being serious for once," Jack said. "King was never good at writing sex scenes, but this I never understood."

Kate grimaced. "Why did you bring up this book?"

"A little more than halfway through, these kids who are trying to find a way to fight a monster that's probably as ancient as the one that was on our island," James said. "One of the kids - a reader, like me – says he was going through a book in the library talking about a ritual involving a Native American smokehouse, where the tribe would go in to have a vision about what they were going to next. The kids perform this ritual, and they do have a vision which gives them insight into what they're fighting. It may just be a novel, but we are a tribe. And right now, one of our members needs to figure out what to do next."

The group considered this. "It is out there, I admit," Kate finally said. "But not much stranger than anything else we've done before."

Locke was walking over with the herbs. "I will admit I was a little surprised that you were a fan of King's, Jack" he said as he began to tear them up.

"Because doctors shouldn't be reading anything but medical books?" Jack said facetiously.

"Because as someone who's read almost every novel King has written, in the battle between destiny and free will, King tends to come down pretty heavy on the side of destiny," Locke reminded him.

James didn't argue this. "Hell, predestination is pretty front and center of It," he pointed out. "Almost from the beginning, it seems pretty clear that the Losers Club are being picked and chosen to fight Pennywise. All of Derry – which is scariest town of all the Maine towns King sets his books – pretty much seems to be letting all these violent things happen year after year because that's how the town works. These seven kids – none of whom have even reached adolescence by the way – are savvy enough to know that nothing that happens the summer of the book is happening by chance. Some larger force is drawing them together to carry out this fight. Hell, when the idea of the smokehouse is being discussed, not only do they know they're gonna do it, but a couple of them are pretty sure that the book jumped into the hand of one of them."

Jack considered this. "I'm not going to lie I wasn't exactly wild about that part of the book," he admitted. "And it's always there in King's work. Hell, he even came up with a term for it The Dark Tower books."

"Ka,' James acknowledged.

"What always seems clear is that all the characters make think that there's such a thing as destiny or that is some higher power guiding them, but that they feel obligated by their actions not so much because they're being led, but because they feel it's the right thing to do," Jack said.

"Of course, a lot of them use it as a crutch to let them do bad things," Juliet who'd been quiet throughout the discussion. "When Carrie sets off the sprinklers, all she wants to do is get everybody's clothes wet. Immediately after she realizes that she's started a massacre, she decides that 'what's supposed to be' and leaves all her classmates to die. She is a victim, but she uses that to be a villain too."

Kate smiled. "Long way from book club."

"Sort of and not really." Juliet said.

"I just hope we're leading them down the right path," Jack said.

He didn't have to add where he hoped the path wasn't going.

ONE HOUR LATER

"I really hope our neighbors don't complain about this," Izzie said nervously

"Why? McDreamy didn't zone his property for spiritual journeys," James said. "By the way you the one who coined McSteamy?"

Izzie looked a little befuddled. "Yes."

"I gotta say, not a long of originality there. Don't get me wrong, I've had beers with the guys and the nickname does fit him. Just saying the fact it wasn't original might've hurt his feelings."

"Well, I'm guessing you could've done a lot better," Alex said.

"Admittedly, my nicknames are fitting but not exactly creative." James told them. "I've known Jack for three years and I still haven't moved much beyond 'Doc'. Hell, the rest of them may be too polite to tell you, but almost all of my nicknames were either extremely offensive, if not out and out racist."

"Hurley has been more than clear on that point," Izzie said.

"And those we're just the fat jokes," James shook his head. "I think I used every single Asian nationality but Korean when it came to Sun and Jin. I'm actually grateful Jin didn't know English that well when we were on the island or he probably would have throttled me by the end of week 1. At least, there was some room for creativity there. Sayid didn't exactly bring out the best in me either."

"There a reason we're going down this aspect of memory lane?" Alex asked.

James turned serious. "Thought it might calm you down before you went into the great unknown. I know you've agreed to do this, but you're not exactly looking forward to it."

"When this is over, try and come up with a better nickname for us," Izzie said.

"You got it, Elle," James said seriously. He was actually glad to see Stevens roll her eyes.

Locke walked over to them. "We're as ready as we'll ever be."

"That's not entirely reassuring," Alex said as they started walking towards the tent.

"I used this same substance on Boone about a week after we found the hatch," Locke told them. "His experience was more of a lucid dream than anything else. He thought that I had tied up Shannon, that when he found her the monster came after them and while they were running it killed Shannon. It wasn't until he found me and Shannon at the caves that he realized that everything he saw had been in his head."

James clearly hadn't known this part of the story. "And the guy kept following you after that?"

"When he saw Shannon's body, he told me he was relieved. Released from the burden of having to care for her. I told him that this experience was vital to his survival on the island. A little more than a week later, he was dead." Locke shook his head. "I thought about that a long time. That maybe if I'd told him to care for his sister instead of me, both of them might still be alive."

James clearly got this and stayed quiet.

"My point is this substance clearly has a different effect on whoever ingests it," Locke told them. "I can't guarantee what happens will be…pleasant."

"We're not on a magical island. That's got to count for something," Izzie pointed out.

By now, they had reached the tent. "You're ready for this?" Jack asked.

In answer Izzie took the paste that John had finished mashing up and scooped some into her mouth. She made a face. "You couldn't have put some Tabasco in here?"

"It might have altered the trip," Locke said only half in jest. "All right. The two of you go inside. If at any time, you feel that you're not safe shout out."

"Good luck," Jack told them.

When both of them were inside, Jack looked at John. "I'm still not sure why Alex had to go in with her."

"It was the only way he'd agree to let Izzie do this," Locke raised an eyebrow. "I'd think you of all people would understand how hard it is to persuade someone who loves you not to help them."

Kate chuckled. "You do know who you're talking to, right?"

Jack smiled a little. "And none of us are going in there with them because…?"

"It's their journey, not ours," Locke said. "Besides, we need doctors around in case things do get…strange."

"I thought strange was what we were looking for," James pointed out.

Locke's smile faded a little. "We've made this place as safe as possible. But I will admit I just don't know Isabel and Alex will handle it. They might be able to listen and understand what we were telling them, but that's far different from experiencing it."

Jack, who had always been quick to challenge Locke on any occasion, asked a different question. "When you gave Boone the paste, did you have any idea what he would end up seeing?"

Locke didn't hesitate. "I was as surprised as he was."

"Do you think he was a better person for it?"

This was the first time in a long time that the two men had discussed Boone, whose death had essentially torn whatever relationship they could have had on the island asunder. "He seemed to be," Locke said sincerely. "Of course if he was, it wasn't for very long."

"You were following your own path, John," Jack told him. "It wasn't necessarily better or worse than anyone else's, but it was your own path. Now we've got to help Izzie find hers. And if you think this can do that, then we're going to hope we're right."

"You think so?" Locke asked.

"I have faith in you, John," Jack said simply.

GLGLGL

"Alex, for God's sake say something," Izzie said.

"You want to hear my voice?"

"No. But you have said anything since we came in here. Honestly, you being quiet for this long is weirder than hearing you rave," Izzie admitted.

"Hey, I'm as much in the dark as you are," Alex owned. "This is your thing, not mine. I'm just here as an anchor."

Izzie paused. "Thank you for letting me do this."

"If I'd said I thought this was a dumb idea would you have listened?"

"Probably not," Izzie admitted.

"Good. Because I have to say if Yang or O'Malley hears about this, I'm going to throw you under the bus."

"Christina won't ask, and George will just wonder why we didn't ask him for help."

"Probably." Alex hesitated, and then poured some more water over the steam. "Did Locke give you any idea how it might happen?"

"Just to wait and watch," Izzie said. "One way or the other, I'd know."

"You know if I hadn't seen his X-rays, I probably still would think he was crazy," Alex owned.

"And having seen them?"

Alex paused. "Jury's still out."

Izzie stared into the fire. "You know maybe you're right and all of this is –"

"Stevens."

Izzie turned around and almost jumped. "Dr. Bailey, what are you…"

She trailed off. She wasn't in the sweat lodge anymore. Instead she was in the locker room in Seattle Grace. And somehow she wasn't surprised that she was wearing scrubs and her lab coat.

"You okay, Stevens?" There was a look of concern on Miranda Bailey's face that was almost foreign to those who knew her. "I know it seems like it's a lot your first day back but you don't have to worry, everyone's on your side except when their not."

Izzie nodded. "No. No I'm good."

Bailey nodded. "All right. Finish scrubbing in. The patient will be ready in twenty minutes."

Izzie nodded and walked over to the sink, reciting as she did before so many surgeries during her residency the steps for the procedure she was about to do.

"I have to admit I didn't realize how far you were willing to go."

Stevens had heard Christina Yang's derogatory tone so many times she almost by design tuned it out.

"Getting cancer just to get your first solo surgery? That's genius."

That was low even for Yang. "I didn't get cancer for that."

"You mean you ignored having a disease just to see someone you loved? What kind of surgeon are you?"

Stevens whirled around to face Yang whose lab coat didn't have her name but rather Dr. Lara Candle on it. And for some reason, she was holding a scalpel over her right shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?" Izzie was remarkably calm given that one of her closest friends was carving a symbol into her shoulder.

"You can't count on cancer. Self-harm's a lot quicker. Besides, I don't have to fake it as hard."

"Why didn't you ask me?" Meredith Grey was now beside her.

"To assist?" Izzie was now scrubbing in again.

"Having a suicidal ideation and a fixation on someone who'll never love you the way you want? That's my thing."

"I just didn't think you understand," Izzie said.

"I probably wouldn't have. I'm like everybody else who came back. Too many parent issues and I just don't believe in anything." Meredith said casually. "Anyway, you'd better hurry. Dr, Shephard gets pissed when people are late for his OR."

Somehow it didn't surprise Izzy that Jack was going to working with.

She walked down the hall. The intercom was buzzing but for some reason, it was playing music. Stevens knew it from somewhere; she just wasn't sure where.

"Look, can't you just patch me up? I have a plane to catch." A man a few years younger was saying to O'Malley.

"Mr. Carlyle, you've a very serious injury. If we don't operate now…"

The man turned around. Izzie didn't even seem surprised that he was covered in blood.

"Don't mind him. He's always been Mr. Macho." A woman a little younger than him said derisively. There was blood pooling at the pit of her stomach.

"Dr. Smith could you give me a hand here?" Derek was talking to a woman in a white coat.

"You called for a consult?"

Derek looked at a black man muttering to himself. "Some kind of mania. Keeps saying the 23rd Psalm over and over."

She didn't recognize any of these patients but they all seemed familiar.

"Whose idea was it to have British rock played over the intercom?" Weber was saying grouchily. "And why did they have to choose some band I've never heard of?"

By now Izzie was at the door to the OR. "Sorry I'm late, Dr. Shephard."

"Well, at least you're here now."

It wasn't Jack or Derek. It was a man in his early sixties with grey hair and an impeccably mannered appearance – save for the white tennis shoes he was wearing.

"Glad you finally came, kiddo," he told her.

Izzie felt confused for the first time. "Are you the new attending?"

"No," the man said calmly. "And my son would be outraged that I'd found a job here."

"Who is your son?"

"I think you know, Isobel."

The surreal nature of the scene seemed to fall away. 'Are you dead too?"

"That depends on who you ask." Christian Shephard said calmly. "But even if I was, that doesn't mean you couldn't see me."

"I'm confused."

"I'm here because you and I have something common besides knowing my son. We're both caught up in something we didn't ask to be. It's different in my case because I really thought I know longer had to worry about these things anymore when I came to the island."

This wasn't even close to the strangest conversation Izzie had ever had, even with a dead person. "What happened when you came there?"

"My son never asked to get involved in what happened. But at least when he made the choice, he was alive. I was certain I was dead – having observed it for so long I knew every angle of it. So imagine my surprise when I find myself upright on an island, calling to a golden retriever." Christian shook his head. "I thought if this was the afterlife, it was damn strange. I was looking down at my body, standing there looking at a dog, telling him: 'Find my son. He has work to do.' The dog runs off and I blink out."

"Some time later, I wake up and I'm standing in the trees and my son is walking towards me, and just like when I was alive, he didn't look happy to see me. In fact, he looked pretty horrified. The next day or so, I keep blinking in and out. Just trying to see my son, make sure he's okay. Then he rushed into a grove of trees and he starts shouting. The same three words over and over: 'Where are you?' That's when it finally dawns on me. I'm dead and my son isn't. I don't know where I am, but I'm not supposed to be here.'

"When did you figure out something was wrong?"

"When my son found my coffin, and I wasn't in it," Christian said bluntly. "I was a rational man all my life, but even I couldn't explain that. I'm not certain I blame my son for what he did. I know I gave him far too much grief when I was alive and now I was dead and somehow I made things worse. I had made so many mistakes when I was alive – you know, you've heard most of them from Jack and the rest of his friends – but I just couldn't seem to stop making them even now. I tried to shut things out but despite my best efforts, I just couldn't move on. Even now, I'm neither dead nor alive. Just…between places." He paused. "Which brings us here."

Everything Christian had said before sort of made sense. Now Izzy was puzzled again. "Does that mean everybody here is dead?"

"I said that they can't move on. Just because you're alive doesn't mean you can't get…stuck." Christian looked at her. "Some of your friends know that better than most."

Izzie couldn't exactly argue that point. She remembered how clearly Meredith had acted with little disregard towards her own life to the point where she had drowned even though she could swim. "Is that why I'm here? Because I'm stuck too?"

Christian smiled. "Not quite. You were stuck between two places. But unlike everyone here, you were able to choose to move on. Towards life, not death. And a person like that that is very special indeed."

Izzie winced. "Based on what I've been told, you'll forgive for not jumping for joy hearing that."

"Meredith went through something like this before awhile ago," Christian told her. "As a matter of fact she went to this very place." He paused. "She saw him too."

Izzie was puzzled by this. Meredith had never told them about what happened the forty minutes that she had been clinically dead… which was fair because she hadn't told Meredith about the truly horrific thing she had said about Callie and George during that same period. "She saw Denny."

"And some other people. Including her mother, as she was leaving."

Meredith's keeping quiet made a lot more sense. She had been caring around the weight of Ellis Grey even longer than Jack had been carrying the weight of Christian. Even now Izzie still wasn't sure Meredith was truly over it. "But Meredith came back."

"She lived. It doesn't mean she left. Everybody has ghosts." Christian hesitated. "I kept trying to reach out to my son when I was on the island. The last time was when he was being kept in a cage. I tried to find a way that the only way for him to move on was to let go."

Izzie thought she knew that story. It was one of the few things that had happened on the island that neither Jack nor Juliet had been able to explain. "No offense, but I think you just drove him a little closer to the edge with that."

"I'm not shocked, considering the whole reason I was on the island in the first place was because I couldn't let go either." Christian shook his head. "It's hard to explain what being on the island does to the living, much less the dead. There was a creature on the island that had the ability to manipulate the dead. He used that ability to try and weaken the ones who were on it. I'm sure your friends have told you some of those experiences." Izzie nodded. "What they don't know is that the man on the other side, Jacob, was doing the exact same thing. The only difference was he didn't need a corpse in order to find a way to manipulate it.'

If Izzie had been puzzled before, she was downright befuddled now. "What the hell does that mean?"

"If I could explain believe me I'd tell you. The closest I can come to is this. If you died and your body came to the island, that thing could use it. If you died on the island, then Jacob could use it. And because it took him a long time for people to get past his 'tests', let's just say there were a lot of people he's been able to use over the millennia."

"From everything I've heard, this Jacob guy sounds like a real prick," Izzie couldn't help but utter.

"The Others may have considered him God but depending what verses you read, the two aren't mutually exclusive." Christian admitted.

"And is that what I'm doing here? Playing another version of the game?" Izzie asked. "Because if getting cancer was my initiation I've got a suggestion about where they can stick it."

"As I said, it's different for you. The path that everybody else took led to the island. You have intersected with it, but your path doesn't lead anywhere near it." Christian said. "The people who are looking for the island now are doing so because they seek people who have long been dead. You know that much; my son and his friends have told you. The only thing that awaits them if they continue on their path is more loss and no peace. The people who are manipulating them know this but don't care. They want to use them to find the island for themselves."

"Because some of them were supposed to be brought to the island," Izzie reasoned. "Just like the people on Oceanic 815."

"These people don't know that the search is over," Christian said. "Even if they did, they wouldn't care. They want the island at any cost. Some of them were willing to risk dying in a plane crash to find it before. They'll do the same thing if it means there is a chance of getting there."

"Who are these people?" Izzie demanded.

"I'm only dead. I'm not all-knowing and all seeing," Christian said simply. "All that I know with any certainty is that these people are not unlike Widmore even though they view him with disdain. They think their cause is just. They've known about the island for years. And they are sworn to protect it, even though their definition of 'protection' isn't the one we'd use. And most important of all, they know the people who can find it even though they were never chosen themselves. That makes them even more dangerous."

"And you're telling me all this because I've been chosen?" Izzie really wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to this question.

"I said you weren't." Christian paused. "But there are people you care about who are. People you knew long before you ever met my son."

This hit Izzie even harder than the original diagnosis. "Who are they?"

"They are people who need to be involved. They're not lost in the same way so many of the candidates were, but the paths they are on will only lead to death." Christian hesitated again. "I may be exceeding my limitation as your guide by doing this, but knowing who you are you will not let this go until you know. So I'm going to give you this."

He handed her a slip of paper. Izzie took it and was baffled.

"You can't read it here. When you're back in the real world, you'll be able to." Christian assured her.

Izzie decided to take this on faith. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Yes," Christian told her. "I'm giving you two messages. One of them is for all of them and it's going to take a lot of work to convince them because I guarantee you the idea will be repellent."

"And the other?"

"It's to my son."

"Iz? Iz!"

Izzie found herself outside the lodge with Alex and Jack standing over her.

"Izzie, are you all right?"

"That's…a matter…of opinion," Izzie managed to gasp out.

Alex looked relieved. "You were totally unresponsive for more than ten minutes. It was like you were…"

Izzie knew how to finish. "…In another world."

Jack seemed a little less surprised. "I guess it worked."

"I have to say, seeing Denny was more fun."

Alex winced. "I have enough of an inferiority complex as it is, Stevens."

"Hey at least then I had the justification that might have been going nuts." Izzie pointed out. "This…this is scarier."

Locke looked at her. "What did you see?"

"I'll tell you when my lady-parts are nice and covered and when all of us are back in the house," Izzie told them. "For now, let's just say that it worked and that I'm suitably freaked out."

SHEPHARD HOUSE

Derek's trailer was not nearly big enough to hold all of the Oceanics and Izzie had no intention of telling anybody what she had seen when she was in a wide-open space. She wasn't wild about telling in a confined space either, but at least there she'd be pretty sure that no one would run and hide.

It helped matters that after she told everybody what she had seen and heard, nobody – not even Jack – was particularly upset. He was, however, back in his devil's advocate role.

"So you basically saw everybody who died on the island in the hospital," Jack asked.

"I've seen their picture before," Stevens reminded them. "Based on the wounds they had I'm pretty sure that's how they died."

"And my father was acting as a messenger," Jack really looked like he was angriest at this.

"If it makes you feel any better, he didn't seem any more thrilled to be doing it than you are to hearing about it," Izzie said.

"It doesn't seem like Christian gave you any newer information," Sayid said thoughtfully. "There's nothing here that we couldn't have reasoned out on our own when it comes to why these people are seeking us and the children of the Initiative."

"You're not saying she, like, made it up?" Hurley seemed very doubtful about this.

"I am merely saying that we have no idea whether this was a vision or whether or not it was a hallucination combined with whatever we told her," Sayid said.

"I may not believe in this crap, but I don't think Iz would lie about it," Alex was starting get that agitated look in his eye.

Izzie put her hand on his shoulder. "Its okay, Alex. Did you get what I asked you for?"

Alex looked at her. "Yeah." He took out her white lab coat. "I still don't get why you wanted it."

"Call it a hunch." Stevens was smiling now.

She stood up and put it on. "Christian told me that some of my friends in the hospital were involved in this."

"He also gave you a blank piece of paper which you don't have," James reminded her.

"I didn't have it on me. So I put it in the pocket of my lab coat." And though she had no reason to know this when she reached into her left pocket, she pulled out a piece of paper which when she unfolded it now had five names written on it. None of which she was happy to see on it – except for one she barely knew.

Derek Shepherd

Lexie Grey

Mark Sloan

George O'Malley

Arizona Robbins

She looked at Alex. "Dr. Robbins, she's the pediatric surgeon right?"

Alex looked surprised. "Yeah, she started at the hospital about a year ago. Why is she…?"

He looked at the paper she was carrying. The color drained from his face. "Iz, what are you doing with this list?"

"This is where I put it in the vision. I can't promise it wasn't here before, but there's no reason I should be carrying it, is there?" A thought occurred to her and she handed it to Jack, who looked similarly pale. "Do you recognize the handwriting because I know for sure it isn't mine?"

Jack just stared at it for a very long time. He'd come to believe a lot of unbelievable things over the past three years, but if you'd asked him if he believed in ghosts even after everything that happened, he'd still have said no. But how was he supposed to explain what five names from his hospital written in his father's handwriting were doing in Izzie Stevens' lab coat?

Kate walked up to her husband and squeezed his shoulder. "Jack," she said softly.

"You said he had a message for me," Jack said softly. "What was it?"

Izzie took a deep breath. "He says you thought he never loved you and that wasn't true. He did. It only appeared at times that he didn't. His father wasn't very good at showing his feelings, and he guessed that was one of the things that he got from him. He hoped you didn't get that from him. He said he was always proud of you, even when you thought he hated you. He's sorry that you only learned it when it was too late. And…" She looked him in the eyes. "You always had what it took."

Jack looked very much like he was about to break down. "Was that it?"

"Actually there was one last very important thing. He misses you very much and he can't wait to see you again. But he wants you to be goddamn sure that it doesn't happen for a very long time. "

That did get a teary chuckle from Jack. "I'll do everything in my power for that last part," he said with a small smile. He put his arms around Kate.

"Well, we've still got to worry about everybody else," Alex was still focused on the list that Jack was holding. "How the fuck are we going to convince these people that they're involved in something much bigger than just be a surgeons?'

"You're actually worried about how we're going to convince Meredith," Izzie reminded them. "Those first two names directly affect here, and she's not going to be thrilled that George is part of this."

"O'Malley already knows about this and Lexie and Derek are already partially in," Alex reminded her. "But you're right. Meredith will be pissed off royal. Want to flip a coin to see who has to try and sell her on this?"

"We're not even sure what we're trying to sell them on yet," Izzie countered. She looked at Hurley. "Do you mind if Callie gives us a hand on this?"

"She's going to be upset if we don't," Hurley admitted. "She may still be pissed at what George did, but she doesn't want him to get hurt."

"We're putting the cart considerably before the horse," Sayid seemed willing to accept that there was clearly something behind this. "You said that Christian gave you another message – one that he was sure we would find repellent."

"It's pretty obvious when you come right down to it," Izzie said. "But I'll spell it out. The people who are behind this are trying to use the children of the Dharma Initiative. And we happen to have one of them staying in a hotel right now."

The reaction that followed was angry and in some cases obscene – but Izzie noted a distinct lack of surprise. "Seriously?" James said, speaking for all of them. "It wasn't enough we had to talk with that rat bastard; now we have to protect him, too?'

Kate wasn't that shocked. "Maybe we can just keep operating the way we have been," she pointed out. "Claire and I dealing with him was working before, and it's not like I can't take care of myself in a crisis."

"You're right," Jack clearly wasn't going to argue – though maybe he was still drained from the revelations of the last few minutes. "We can't avoid it at this point, so let's not try. Besides, you and Claire are the ones who are least likely to inflict violence on him if he tries to manipulate you."

"Pretty sure Mamacita was doing a pretty good job handling him on her own," James sounded a bit more like his old self.

"Oh she's not going on her own," Izzie sounded a lot firmer now. "People in our hospital are getting drawn into this without being asked. I was nice enough to come when he requested my presence; now I'm going to ask him some questions."

"So am I," Alex held up his had to forestall objections. "I'm not going to hit him. I wouldn't risk damaging my career as a surgeon on that weasel. I'd just like to meet the man who has caused everybody so much pain."

"I thought you were coming to make sure I was safe," Izzie said with mock hurt.

"I've seen you dissect an aneurysm. I think you can take care of yourself on that end, Iz," Alex said sincerely. "But from what I understand, one of his kidneys" was damaged once. Maybe if the mood arises, we can do our first exploratory surgery."

"I doubt they'd have anesthetic in his motel room," Izzie had a nasty smile on her face.

"Jack had problems with that the first time. Worked out."

James looked a little scared. "Remind me never to piss them off."

"Perhaps I've been choosing the wrong approach dealing with him," Sayid had a small smile on his face. "When you talk with him, there's something I'd like you bring up with him. Something that I'm pretty sure he's been hiding from us."

"From what I've heard that was pretty much his default position," Alex reminded him.

"And I have little doubt he'll continue to do so," Sayid admitted. "But since it's the first lie he ever told us there's no point to covering it now."

"Which is?" Jack asked.

"I think I know the reason the real Henry Gale ended up dead. And it may pertain to our current situation."

NOTES

The talk about King was relevant. Fate and free will come up constantly in his books, and his characters do seem to come down on the side of destiny a lot. The scene about the smokehouse is critical to It and the scene – called 'Love and Desire' in the book – is still one of the most controversial he's ever written. There's a reason it's not in either the mini-series or the movie. I have a feeling that even James' would have a problem with it.

Jack and Locke have been working through there issues. The last line before we cut to the sweat lodge is Jack finally forgiving him for what happened to Boone.

I think we know all the people who are in the Seattle Grace waiting room. Only Libby is not showing the wounds she suffered in real life.

The writers never really made clear the role of Christian in Season 4 – he was clearly a manifestation of the Man in Black on the island, but since he could never leave how was it that Jack saw him in his hospital? Similarly how was Hurley saw the dead in civilization? This is my humble attempt to thread the needle (and on a lesser note, try and explain what Christian might have been going through in the afterlife)

Those of you who are fans of Grey's Anatomy…I feel sorry for you. But seriously folks, those of you are fans may recognize the common thread between four of the names on the list. I was considering having Christina be the fifth name (because she was in the same plane crash that killed Sloane and Lexi) but ultimately decided to deal with Arizona because she suffered a more personal loss in the crash herself…and because I just don't want to write for Yang. Seriously, I love Sandra Oh. Her character on Grey's, couldn't stand her.

Couldn't help myself with Sawyer lecturing Stevens on nicknames. I honestly wanted to write this part as early as Book 2 but I just couldn't find the place.

Karev and Stevens in the same room as Ben. What will happen next? By the way, there is a link between Henry Gale and an outside party that some of you may have picked up on in Season 2. In the next chapter I'll bring it to light.

Read and review. It's the only way I'll learn.