4x06: Fool's Run (Desmond Centric)

3 Days ago

The ocean water rippled smoothly under the sunlight above, untouched and undisturbed as a canoe sat atop of the surface with two paddles inside of it. It shifted silently against the top of the ocean in peace. And yet there was a sense of something bad that was going to happen to disrupt the tranquility in the water...
And then it happened, Desmond' head shot out of the ocean, shaking his hair around to get his bangs out of his eyes. He gasped, breathing heavily and seeing the island off in the distance. Grabbing the edge of his boat, he pulled himself into it with a grunt, landing inside and rocking it roughly.
The image of Charlie's message on his hand was still imprinted on his mind. "Not Penny's Boat." What the bloody hell did that mean? He'd seen Charlie talking to her on the monitor right before the water rushed in and he drowned...Had she talked to him? Did she tell him that she wasn't on the boat? She must've...But then that meant...
Desmond frowned, sitting up and glaring at the island determinedly. It meant that Naomi and whoever was on her boat were liars. Jack and his people were heading into a trap!
He grabbed a paddle and began to stroke left and right through the water back toward the island. As Desmond did so, he felt something in his chest pocket and took it out to see what it was.
The list of "Greatest Hits" that Charlie had made right before going underwater. He'd given it to Desmond to give to Claire when he got back... He stared at the wet piece of paper for a moment or two before folding it back up inside of his chest pocket and continuing his swim toward the island.

LOST

FLASHBACK

The wall of red paint stood before him as Desmond sat in a chair staring down at his feet inside of his apartment. The wall was still unfinished with spots of white everywhere along the edges. There were two buckets of red paint on the floor but Desmond was not at all in the mood to do anything about it. He was sitting in the chair with a bottle of whiskey in his hand and staring at his feet.
A clock behind him ticked quietly every second and even though it annoyed him, he had no will to get up and smash it. His body felt numb.
With a sigh, he took another drink of his alcohol and sat back, staring at the red wall in front of him with a fallen expression. Slowly, Desmond reached inside of his pocket and pulled a photo out. The photo of him and Penny standing in front of the docks at a harbor. At least, that's what the back-drop had looked like.
Desmond stared at it briefly for a second or two before his eyes started to burn and uncontrollable tears began to roll down his cheeks in sorrow. He began to sob, dropping his hand so he didn't have to look any longer. "P-Penny..." He muttered in-between cries. "I'm so sorry..."
The picture slipped from his fingers and hit the ground like a feather. With another great sob, he stood up and smashed the bottle into the wall.
Desmond yelled in despair, rushing to the clock and smashing it into the red wall as well. He kicked the buckets, spilling paint all over the floor and onto his socks. But he didn't care. He didn't care about anything anymore. He'd given up the only thing in his life that had been worth living for and now it was over because...because he was a coward.

END OF FLASHBACK

Desmond ran as fast as he could along the shore toward his beach where he'd left only a few hours earlier. He kicked sand up behind him as he ran, not caring about the boat he left behind him.
Finally, he spun around the corner of some bushes and arrived upon the deserted camp sight. He stopped and looked around in confusion. It looked like there had been a war here. Blown up tents, dead bodies in a pile, tracks that looked like it'd come from some sort of van...
Desmond approached the bodies cautiously and was relieved to find that they were all people he did not recognize which meant that his people must've won the battle. He continued looking around, seeing that the tire tracks led off into the jungle once again which meant they left without him...
And that's when he spotted it, a note on a tree nearby. Desmond ran up to it and tore it off.

Hey, dude.
We're heading to the north side of the island on the beach 'cus that's where they're rescuing us. Jack got the signal through which means you guys did well. Hope you catch up to us, don't worry, we'll wait.
-Hurley

Desmond frowned. They were already gone; they could've been gone for hours. And if they were driving...they were probably already half-way across the island by now. But the thing that disturbed him most was the fact that he was going to have to explain to all of them why he was coming back alone and why Charlie wasn't with him...and how he had died...for nothing.
He wasn't going to let Charlie's death be for nothing. If he could tell them that it wasn't Penny's boat then he could save them and Charlie's sacrifice would mean something.
With that on his mind, he set off into the jungle...

FLASHBACK

Desmond awoke to the sound of a knock at his door. He blinked and sat up, muttering groggily in his bed as he tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness around him. "Coming!" He called to the knocker, rolling off of his bed and putting a shirt on loosely. He stumbled to the door, feeling the side-affects of being drunk only a few hours previously take affect and give him a major headache.
He opened the door and found himself looking at three men in black suits. They were very clean and big. They didn't look like they belonged in a grungy flat like his.
"Mr. Hume?" The man in the middle asked.
"Yes?" Desmond nodded. "Who are you?"
"We're here to ask you a few questions." The man responded. "We have a warrant to search your...if you'd call this a house."
Desmond's face fell into a frown. "A warrant? Why?"
The two men on either side of the speaker entered and passed Desmond. He would've stopped them but they were bigger and Desmond didn't want to get his ass beat at the moment. So he let them walk inside. The speaker entered as well and sat down. Desmond took a seat as well, suddenly feeling as if he had no control of what was going to happen inside of his own flat.
"My name is David Ross." The speaker introduced himself with a drawling tone. "We were informed by a Mr. Whidmore that you stole an item of value from him when you went to have an interview with him three weeks ago."
"What?" Desmond blinked in shock. "I never stole anything!"
"Really?" Mr. Ross asked, raising an eyebrow but not looking surprised at all. "You're lucky we came before the police did. They need us to ask you questions before they can take you off to jail."
"Well you asked your question!" Desmond said, his voice rising. "I never stole anything!"
Ross smirked. "You broke up with your girlfriend recently, right?"
"What?" Desmond received another shock. How did he know that?
"She was Mr. Whidmore's daughter, wasn't she?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Desmond asked rudely.
"Well, you get denied of a big opportunity by her father...maybe he made you feel like you weren't good enough for his daughter and you got rid of her..." Ross said. "But then you became unhappy and wanted revenge on him for what he did to you. Maybe you decided to steal something during your interview with him the day after you broke up."
Desmond frowned as Ross went on. "Why did you go for another interview when you already failed the first one? Especially when the man you're being interviewed by is the father of the woman you just threw away?"
"That's none of your business!" Desmond snapped.
"Ah, I see." Ross sighed, closing his hands together in his lap. The two large men came walking next to him as he rose from the seat. "We'll be seeing you in the next couple days. You better save up your money in case there's a court date."

END OF FLASHBACK

Running through the jungle as fast as he can, Desmond followed the tracks of the dharma van through he jungle. He was carrying nothing but his backpack over his shoulders and he hoped that was all he was going to need. If he encountered a polar bear or a boar he'd just have to run because he had no weapon to fight back with.
"Desmond!"
Desmond came to an abrupt stop, hearing his voice somewhere nearby. He spun around, trying to find who had called out to him. That voice had sounded familiar. Who had it been? What was going on? The wind sounded like whispers going through the trees. He continued to circle around where he stood, beginning to get a little frightened.
And there he was. Standing in a clearing up ahead was Charlie Pace staring right back at him. He was dripping wet and had sunken eyes. Desmond stared at him in horror and confusion. "Charlie?"

"Charlie?" Desmond repeated in disbelief. "You're...you're dead!"
Charlie smiled a little. "Yeah, I am."
"Then how-Who are you?" Desmond asked in a stutter.
"I'm Charlie." Charlie replied.
"But you're dead! How are you here?!" Desmond demanded.
"That's not important right now, Des." Charlie said. "I'm here because you're heading toward danger."
"Danger?" Desmond repeated.
"Yes." Charlie said.
"And how do you know that?"
It felt odd, Charlie was dead and yet here he was talking to Desmond as if he'd never died at all. Was he hallucinating?
"Your flashes stopped, haven't they?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah." Desmond said, approaching him. "After you died!"
"Desmond, calm down." Charlie told him.
"Why are you here?" Desmond asked.
"I just told you, you're heading toward danger."
"I'm going to save them!" Desmond shouted.
Charlie's smile fell. "No you're not, Desmond."
"Yes, I am!" Desmond said, beginning to walk past him.
"If you try and save them, you'll only be running like a fool." Charlie said, following after him. "They'll be fine without you."
"You said it yourself, that it was not Penny's boat." Desmond snapped. "And they don't know that! They're heading toward danger, not me."
"You won't find what you're looking for." Charlie told him darkly.
Desmond ignored him and continued off into the jungle with a determined look in his eyes. His mind was just playing tricks on him. Charlie wasn't there at all. He was just imagining things.

2 Days ago

Desmond sat in the jungle by the fireside glaring into the flames. He was about half-way across the island now. He still had time to catch up with them. He could still save them all. He had to.
Charlie came walking out of the jungle and took a seat across the fire from him, dropping a load of wood into the pit of flames. "Thought you could use some more light." He said to him with a friendly smile.
"Stop following me." Desmond muttered.
"I can't." Charlie grinned.
"You're just a hallucination." Desmond said. "You're the part of me that's afraid and wants me to just stay away from danger."
"Well I'm a little hurt that you'd think that." Charlie said. "But everyone's entitled to their own opinions I suppose."
"Shut it." Desmond sighed, refusing to look at him and instead rested against the side of a tree.
There was a moments silence as the man who appeared to be Charlie stared at him. And then he looked away and said "You know...This fool's run you're going on...why are you so determined to get back to them?"
"Because they're in danger. We went through this." Desmond snapped.
"That's true...but I don't think that's what's driving you." Charlie said. "There's only been one thing on this island that's been driving you, and that's your will to see Penny again. And when you found out that your boat didn't have Penny on it...I think there's a part of you that doesn't want to believe that. I think there's a part of you that believes that you will see her again."
"You couldn't be more wrong, brother." Desmond muttered, closing his eyes.
"Can't blame you, really." Charlie went on. "I mean, it's the second time in the past week where you thought you'd see your girlfriend again and it's been snatched out of your hands. First with Naomi, and now with this..."
"I told you to shut it!" Desmond snapped, getting frustrated.
"Alright." Charlie said, standing up. "I'll be back when you'll need me again."
"I don't need you." Desmond snarled as Charlie walked away and he was left sitting by the fire alone...

FLASHBACK

"Beautiful..." Desmond muttered, finishing the last brush-stroke upon the painting and handing it to the lovely couple in front of him.
He was on the streets in London with a pile of paintings sitting in a stack behind him along with a few of his best works hanging up for the public to see. He was painting pictures of couples who paid him.
"Thank you." The man he'd just painted said, handing him money and walking away with the painting in hand and talking to his girlfriend happily.
Desmond watched them go with a sad face before taking a sigh and setting his brush down. He turned to grab a clean paper when suddenly he found himself facing non-other than Penelope herself.
She was standing by the ally looking down at him with a frown on her face and her arms crossed. Desmond stared at her with wide, horrified eyes. He didn't want her to see how low he'd gotten since they broke up. "Penny...?" He muttered. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard of a painter drawing couples." Penny said, a little shakily. "And you weren't home...so I went looking for you."
"Why?" Desmond asked.
"Because I..." Penny looked down. "My father told me what you did."
Desmond frowned. So that's why she was here. On daddy's orders?
"He told me that you stole his money and his..." Penny was unable to go on. "Did you...is he telling me the truth?"
Desmond looked at her for a moment in silence before shaking his head. "No, he didn't."
"Then why is he accusing you of this if you didn't steal it?" Penny asked angrily.
"Because I am the easiest to blame!" Desmond shouted. "Because he hates me! Because I broke his daughter's heart and he got exactly what he wanted!"
Penny shook her head, sniffing. "Then who stole it?"
"I don't know!" Desmond said. "And I don't care! Don't you think if I'd stolen that money I would've been doing a bit better than I am right now?"
"I don't think you stole the money." Penny said.
Desmond blinked. "You think I stole the..." He paused, for some reason unable to say the last word. She stared at him, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry Penny, but I have to go..." he muttered, standing up and shifting the paintings under his arms.
"The court date is in two weeks." Penny told him sadly.
"I know." Desmond muttered grudgingly as he left her by the ally confused, alone, and sobbing...

END OF FLASHBACK

As the morning sun rose over the island, Desmond ran through the jungle once again. As he went, however, he arrived at a scene he'd not been expecting to encounter.
In the clearing in front of him there was a huge cliff that stretched out over toward the mountains. He approached the cliff slowly, looking down and seeing a broke bridge on each side of the earth walls. It was too long of a distance to jump. "Great..." he muttered."Just perfect."
"Pretty big leap." Charlie said, joining his side from out of nowhere and making him jump.
"Go away." Desmond said to him rudely.
"Why are you acting like this toward me? Aren't we friends?" Charlie asked.
"You're not real." Desmond said, still convinced.
"I went and saw Claire a little earlier." Charlie smirked. "I think she misses me. Gave her a bit of a fright."
"Stop lying and go away!" Desmond said, raising his voice.
"How do you plan on crossing over?" Charlie asked, ignoring his order.
"I'll go around." Desmond muttered with a frown. "It looks like it only stretches a few miles inland."
"Can't do that, Des." Charlie sighed.
"Yeah, and why not?"
"Because there's a cave over there and if you go in that cave..." Charlie looked at him with a frown. "You'll die."
"And how do you know that?" Desmond asked.
"Because there's a reason you haven't been having your flashes of death anymore." Charlie said. "Because your life is about to end and I'm trying to help you out."
Desmond chuckled under his breath. "Nice try. Goodbye, Charlie..." He turned and left his hallucination standing by the cliffs watching him go in disappointment.

As he made his way, Desmond thought about the things "Charlie" had told him. About how he'd been having flashes of his death. About being disappointed with knowing that Penny wasn't on the boat. Everything he'd told him didn't make sense. Charlie was dead. He'd seen him die... And Penny was probably nowhere near this island. He'd accepted that.
He looked up and found himself facing a large cavern leading into the mountain. He wandered his eyes across the cliffs and found the other opening of the cave on the other side. All he'd have to do is go on in and get out. Sure, he didn't have a torch with him or anything to light a fire with at the moment, but he'd manage.
With a deep breath, he entered, slipping his feet over the dry rocks to get inside. When Desmond was completely engulfed in darkness, all he could hear was the dripping sounds of the cavern walls around him. That meant there must be some sort of underground river or water-fall somewhere nearby.
He continued along, feeling his way with one hand against the bumpy, wet wall next to him so that he didn't lose his way. He made sure to take careful steps. Just because he didn't believe what Charlie had told him didn't mean he couldn't be cautious.
Desmond could hear a rushing sound getting closer and closer as he went. The shadows pressed against his eyes like a velvety blanket of darkness. The knowledge of being alone in a dark, rocky, wet place was terrifying and the fact that he couldn't even see where he was going made it even more horrible. Shouldn't there be a light at the end of the tunnel by now? He must've walked a long enough distance to be on the other side of the cliffs, right?
And then it happened. His foot slipped against a rock on the ground and there was a furious roar behind him. He flung around, blindly waving his arms as he tripped and scrapped his back against the hard floor. There was something in there with him. He could hear it grunting in anger and pounding toward him through the tunnel.
Desmond tried his best to get up in time. There was a big shape coming toward him covered in darkness. He turned and ran, stumbling along the rocks and sticking his arms out in front of him desperately. Panic had taken over him. He didn't know where he was going now or what was chasing him. But the hunter gave out another furious roar and slammed into a rock. As Desmond ran, he tripped on something and found himself falling into blackness. He yelled in horror, banging his ankle and his shoulder on rocks as he fell down a seemingly endless black hole in the ground. He knew once he hit the bottom he would be dead. This was it. He'd failed. Charlie had been right...

"Des!"
Desmond yelled, raising his head and looking around wildly. It was still night time and he was sitting by the fire where Charlie had left him only he was still there. Charlie was sitting there looking at him with a smirk on his face. "Nice nap?"
Desmond blinked. Everything that had just happened to him...It felt all so real... "Charlie?" He mumbled, standing up and gripping his shoulder. Neither his shoulder nor his ankle hurt from hitting that rock wall on the way down. He was completely fine. "What's going on?"
"I showed you what I saw, Desmond." Charlie said. "You wouldn't listen to me any other way so I had to show you what would happen if you don't follow me."
Desmond glared at him. "That broken bridge? The cliffs? The polar bear in the caves? None of it happened?"
"Not yet." Charlie grinned, standing up as well and looking at him over the fire-light.
"How? That-that's impossible. It felt so real!" Desmond yelled, unable to believe what had just happened.
"You'd think that you of all people would be used to have flashes of the future." Charlie said sarcastically.
Desmond glared at him. "How do I know that it wasn't a dream, eh?"
"Because if it was then how would I know exactly what happened in it?" Charlie asked. "Now are you going to come with me or do you still think that I'm a little funky chip in your brain trying to coax you out of saving your friends?"
Desmond looked at him, unsure of what to do or say. He'd just experienced an entire half-day inside of his own head. The longest flash he'd ever had, except this time it showed him dying instead of Charlie. "Alright..." he said, finally "I'll come with you."
Charlie grinned again "Good."

"Where are you taking me?"
"You'll see."
"I'm tired of waiting, Charlie."
"You'll see." Charlie repeated.
"Just tell me." Desmond demanded impatiently.
They both stopped, facing each other in the jungle. Charlie was in front of him looking annoyed.
"I want my questions answered before I follow you anymore." Desmond said angrily. "I want to know why you're having flashes of my death. Why I have to follow you and where you're taking me. And most importantly, what the bloody hell are you?"
"I'm Charlie." Charlie said with a grin. "Didn't we go over this already?"
"You are dead!" Desmond shouted. "And if you're not a hallucination, then what are you?"
Charlie's face fell slightly but he kept his composure. "I can't tell you that, Des."
"Why?" Desmond demanded.
"Because it's not important." Charlie told him. "What's important is the place that I'm going to show you."
He turned and continued to walk through the jungle without another word. Desmond watched, opening his mouth to say something but deciding it'd be best to get his answers by following him.
A few minutes more of walking, Charlie stopped and looked ahead of him at a clearing. "We're here." He muttered.
Desmond joined him by his side and looked out into the giant clearing before them.
There was a huge, black crater in the ground by a bunch of fences that looked to be torn down. Rubble was everywhere. It looked like there had been a building here that had blown up. "What is this place?" Desmond asked in confusion.
"It was a dharma station called the Flame." Charlie said. "It exploded recently because of John Locke when they went to rescue Jack. The man with the eye-patch you shot down in the Looking Glass Station lived here and worked on communicating with the rest of his people in the outside world. This is how they got reports on all of the survivors of flight 815. Except for you."
Desmond looked at Charlie with a raised eyebrow as they walked into the clearing and stood by the crater. There was debris all over the ground and in the trees around them.
"How come they didn't have a file on me?" Desmond asked.
"Because you weren't on the flight, of course." Charlie replied simply. "They didn't even know you existed in the Swan station for the three years you spent on this island. It wasn't until recently when they decided to check your file out. They didn't get much. Most of it was blown away in the explosion. However..." He paused and bent over to pick something up in the dirt. A red folder with the name "Hume" on the front of it.
"This managed to survive the blast." Charlie smiled, handing the folder to him. "There's something you should see."

FLASHBACK

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god?"
"I do." Desmond said, resting one hand upon the bible and raising the other in the air beside him.
As he seated himself behind the bench and watched the lawyer approach him wearing a gray suit and tie, Desmond sighed and thought about what was about to happen in court that day. In a way for him it was his judgment day. He'd been waiting for a month ever since Mr. Ross had come to see him at his flat and ever since he'd been thinking about what he was going to do and say.
"Is it true, Mr. Hume." Mr. Whidmore's lawyer began. "That you were involved with Mr. Whidmore's daughter, Penelope?"
"Yes." Desmond nodded honestly.
"And is it true that while you were with her, you went to her father's company and had an interview with him that you passed but turned down?" The lawyer asked.
"Yes." Desmond said again.
"All because you just wanted his permission to marry his daughter?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Excuse me?" Desmond looked up.
"Why did you decline the job?" The lawyer questioned.
Desmond could feel the stares of everyone in the courtroom watching him, waiting for an answer. He could see Penelope in the crowd sitting behind Mr. Whidmore himself who was at the accusatory desk to the left of the room.
"I declined it because..." Desmond paused. "Because I didn't want to owe him anything...Because I'm a coward."
The lawyer smiled. "And afterwards, you left Penelope. Is that correct?"
"Yes." Desmond sighed.
"And then a week after that, you reapplied for the job at Mr. Whidmore's?"
"Yes." He was beginning to get sick of saying yes over and over again.
"Now if you didn't want to owe him anything, and if you were such a coward, why did you apply again?" The lawyer asked suspiciously.
"Because I was..." Desmond paused. He didn't like having to explain his personal life to the public. But he knew Penelope was listening and somehow that encouraged him to finish the sentence. "Because I was trying to be...respectable. I wanted to show that if I tried...that maybe Mr. Whidmore would see me as more then just a pathetic excuse for a man."
There were murmurs from the crowd. Desmond cast a glance over at Whidmore and saw him glaring at him. And then he saw Penny, watching him with tear-glazed eyes and a trembling lip. He forced himself to look at the bench.
"So after you were denied the job." The lawyer said with a frown. "Did you feel the need for revenge? Did you decide that maybe if you stole Whidmore's money and stole his--"
"I didn't steal anything." Desmond snapped suddenly.
"Calm down, Mr. Hume." The judge said warningly in a dark, husky voice.
"Sorry." Desmond muttered.
"Well Mr. Whidmore says you did steal something." The lawyer said, striding back and forth in front of the desk. "The police searched your house and found no money, nor the object that was stolen. The evidence was on your side. However, the object that was stolen, was recently found on Mr. Whidmore's doorstep the next day."
Desmond looked up in shock. "What?"
The lawyer held up a plastic bag and inside of it was a golden locket with a chain on it. "This 30,000 dollar locket was found with your finger-prints on it on Mr. Whidmore's porch. Now how did it get there?"
Desmond opened his mouth. He was about to defend himself when something clicked inside his mind. "I...uh..."
"What is that, Mr. Hume?" The lawyer asked.
Desmond sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Alright..." He said, keeping his eyes on the bench in front of him. "I confess, I stole the locket. But not the money."
There were gasps from the crowd. Penny stood up, unable to control herself and looked at him utterly speechless. Mr. Whidmore looked equally shocked. Desmond remained seated, unable to look and see the horrible looks in the audience's faces. But the face he was afraid to see the most was Penny's.
"Order! Order!" The judge said, slamming his hammer into his desk in frustration. "You plead guilty, Mr. Hume?"
"I do." Desmond said with a weak smile and looking up into the ceiling that was shining brightly down upon him.

END OF FLASHBACK

Charlie led Desmond back into the jungle and continued north while Desmond read and re-read through the file. There was a dark frown on his face as he walked before suddenly throwing the file into the bushes and stopping. "Why would I care?" He asked.
"What?" Charlie questioned.
"That file." Desmond pointed down at it. "There was a bunch of information on me and my life. My birth date, my family, all of that stuff I knew...but why?"
"Did you read the article of the newspaper in there?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah." Desmond frowned. "About Mr. Whidmore?"
Charlie studied his face for a moment with a frown. "You do understand what it--"
"Yeah, I understand!" Desmond shouted. "Like I said--why should I care if he's dead!?"
Silence before Charlie sighed and looked down. "I can understand that you're angry, Des...but--"
"That man ruined my LIFE!!!" Desmond roared. "I'm glad he's dead! Was that all you had to show me!?"
"Yeah..." Charlie muttered.
"Then leave! I can make my way from here."
"The information in that article is important, Desmond." Charlie told him as he began to walk away. "You'll need it."
"Shut it!" Desmond said loudly. "I'm done listening to you!"
And with that, Desmond left Charlie standing in the jungle watching him go sadly. "Don't forget what I showed you, Desmond!" He shouted.

FLASHBACK

Desmond sat in the jail cell staring off into space at the iron bared door in front of him. As he sat there, staring at the bars with narrowed eyes, a smile appeared on his face. He fumbled with something on his bed and picked up the piece of paper with Penelope's face on it. He looked down at the picture of him and her standing by the docks and remembered that moment except this time he began to cry with happiness. The memory was what was going to keep him going. No longer was he going to be dragged down. When he left this cell he was going to become a new man.
"Mr. Hume?"
He looked up and saw the guard standing there holding keys in his hands. "You have a visitor."

He took a seat, his hands chained behind his back by hand-cuffs, in the cafeteria of the prison and waited patiently. Who could it be that was visiting him? Could it be Penelope? She seemed like the only person who would bother. He had nobody else.
And when he heard footsteps approach the table, he looked up and found that he was right. There she was, taking a seat across from him at the table looking sad just at the sight of him.
"Desmond..." She muttered.
"Hey, Pen..." He greeted her weakly.
"You look terrible." Penny said and he smirked.
"I'm fine, don't worry."
There was an awkward silence between them. Desmond frowned, wanting desperately to get something off his chest right away. "I'm sorry." He muttered. "I'm so sorry, Penny..."
"Don't be." She told him.
"I never should have..." He sniffed, looking down. "All my life I made mistakes. And you were the greatest one of all. I never should have left you."
Tears formed in Penny's eyes as well as she reached out and touched the side of Desmond's face. "Do you still love me, Des?"
Desmond sniffed again and nodded, looking down.
A tear slid down Penelope's face and she smiled weakly. "When you get out, I'll be waiting for you."
"I'll send you letters." Desmond said desperately. "Every day. We can work things out when I see you again."
Penny nodded, leaning forward and kissing him softly. "Did you really steal that locket, Desmond?" She asked when she pulled away.
Desmond chuckled under his breath. "Why would it matter?"
"There was a picture of me inside of it." Penny said. "And when it was given back to my father, the picture was gone."
"Guess I did steal it then, eh?" Desmond said.
Penny gave him a raised eyebrow. "If you didn't, then why would you confess?"
"Maybe...because I'm a coward." Desmond sighed. "But not anymore. I promise."

END OF FLASHBACK

Yesterday

Desmond burst out from the jungle, finally arriving on the beach. He scanned the shore on both ends, breathing heavily and looking around in confusion. Where were they? He was there? Wasn't he? This was the north side of the island? Maybe he'd found the wrong beach. He'd have to keep searching.
He moved forward but found himself numb in the legs. With a sigh, he fell to his knees and rested in the sand, listening to the sounds of the waves crashing against the beach peacefully.
Desmond pushed himself up and was about to continue north along the beach when suddenly there was a loud gunshot and he felt a sharp pain in his right arm.
He yelled in horror, falling to the sand once again and looking around for the source of the agony he felt. He gripped his bicep, feeling blood gushing out from it.
Dazed, in pain, and confused, Desmond stood up and bolted in the jungle. He stumbled through he trees unsure of where he was heading. He just wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as he could.
BLAM! Another gunshot except this one missed and hit a tree he was passing by. Desmond continued running as fast as he could until he felt something slip and the next thing he knew he was tumbling down a hill of bushes and leaves. He grunted in agony once again when he hit the bottom with a heavy THUD!
Fumbling his hand around in the grass, he tried to muster the strength to lift himself up but found himself being grabbed by the collar and forced up to his feet. There was a man standing there with a rifle in his hand. He could hear people all around him talking amongst themselves.
"Is it one of the survivors?" One said. He was wearing a gas mask. They all were.
"Take him." Another man said. "We can use him for later."
Desmond felt something sharp enter his neck and the next thing he knew his eye-lids were dropping and the overwhelming feeling of drowsiness was taking control. "Ch-Charlie..." He muttered weakly. "Penny..."

LOST