Henry sat down in front of a bank of monitors. He had ordered everyone out of the room and dimmed the lights. He knew the office had already started a betting pool on how long it would take him to fail. Henry rubbed his temples; he didn't have time to ferret out the rat that was chewing at his reputation. He would just have to put up with his own staff's unfounded doubts until he was finished dealing with the problem of accelerating a test subject prematurely for results.

It wasn't fair; he had a perfect record. He had never failed to produce the desired results in a subject. But that hadn't stopped anyone from doubting him. They were all vultures he fumed. It was as if they didn't care that he was the star quarterback, they had sent him into a game someone had already rigged to fail. Sure, the treatment had its dangerous moments and drastic liability waivers were part of the enrollment paperwork. But anyone who still had alternatives wouldn't even consider treatment that came with a price tag this big.

Henry refused to fail. His gaze flicked back and forth between the monitors searching for clues. A subject was just part of a bigger social pattern. If you figured out the larger pattern and how the subject fit into that pattern you had the means to then affect the pattern there by altering the actions of the subject. He just needed to identify the triggers operating between these three to gain control. At this early stage he only needed to prove that the subject was capable of the desired personality trait. Henry just needed to illicit that first step to get everyone off his back.

The monitors were grouped in twos. Each showing a different angle of a subject cuffed to a chair sitting at a simple table. Henry rubbed his eyes before leaning forward to activate the microphone in front of him. "Ok Bea, lets start with subject 510." Propping his elbows on the table Henry huddled closer to the monitors recording Kate.

"Hi Kate, My name is Bea and I have a few questions I need to ask. We would appreciate that you be honest and forthcoming with all of your answers." The woman named Bea had changed. She now wore a white lab coat over a set of pale yellow surgical scrubs. She pulled a pen out of her front pocket and wrote a quick note into the pages of a journal.

Kate sat cuffed to her metal chair. She had already tested the metal to see if she could slip her hands free. The white walls and spare metal desk reminded her of the last time she had been in custody sitting on a chair in Sydney's police department listening to the federal agent goad her. She wondered how much if anything these people knew about her. It was surreal having lived day to day with the vague hope of rescue to suddenly fearing that they had found you out.

Bea gave Kate a reassuring smile and asked, "What can you tell me about Dr Jack Shepherd?"

"Jack," Kate blurted in confusion. It was the last thing Kate had expected to be quizzed on and the confusion showed.

"Yes," Bea gave her a sympathetic look and folded her hands politely across the journal. "He was one of the two men you were brought in with? Did he give you a different alias?" Kate didn't know what to say. She had planned to remain silent in an act of rebellion but now she was just keeping her mouth shut while she tried to catch on to what the conversation was about. Bea gave her a pitying look, "Forgive me, our records show that the three of you have spent time together. I made the assumption that there was a friendship. If the best you can do is relate a physical description that would be sufficient."

Kate fought to keep her confusion off her face, "Um, dark eyes, dark hair, tallish?" Kate finished lamely.

Bea nodded her head and took notes. "Do you know what the tattoo on his shoulder means?"

Kate stared at Bea mutely. She still didn't know where any of this was going, but she was determined not to cooperate.

"I'll take that as a no," Bea added a check mark to her page in the journal. "Has he been involved with any of the deaths that have occurred since arriving on this island?"

Kate didn't answer.

Tom yawned and leaned back against the counter of the break room waiting for the coffee to brew. He nodded to Bea as she walked in. She silently nodded back and crossed to the water cooler. The both listened to the sound of the air bubbles as the water cooler dispensed filtered water. Bea stood and took a sip from her paper cup.

"Any luck?" Tom asked.

Bea looked at him a few moments before answering. "I managed to get 510 to say something in an interrogation. She may be further along the road of rehabilitation than 198."

Tom Nodded. The coffee gurgled one last burp and the green light blinked on. Tom turned and poured coffee into his stained ceramic cup. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed Bea still standing beside the water cooler watching him. Tom fiddled with a stir stick. "Have you already taken 198 to medical for his physical?"

Tom rolled his eyes. Mind your own business he thought. "I just needed some coffee first," he answered grabbing his cup and heading for the doorway.

Flashback

A blond woman sat at a small coffee table in a sunny mezzanine off the T1 international terminal. A small cup of coffee sat untouched in front of her. She wore a worn pair of jeans and a loose top and sneakers. Her only adornment was a pair of diamond studs in her ears. Ignoring the constant stream of travelers walking past she studied some sort of medical textbook. Absently she tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

She looked up at the sound of the chair across from her getting pulled out. A tall man with a head of distinguished grey hair sat across from her. "Hello Christian," she scowled. "I hardly recognized you without one of your expensive suits."

Christian Shepherd nodded, "Look Meg, I understand you are upset, but I finally did it."

The blond shook her head and turned back to her book. "You finally did what?"

Christian leaned forward, "I left Marylin."

Meg Littleton stared at Christian like he was insane. "A little late don't you think? It's been almost 20 years. You sort of missed out on your daughter's childhood if that's the angle you were going to work." To give him credit Christian actually looked regretful. Meg closed her book. "Look, I'm too old to play these games anymore. You should have warned me about what you were going to do. I actually cried. Jesus! I know it's been awhile, but how could you let me think you were dead?"

Christian shook his head. He reached out to take Meg's hand. "There was no other way Meg, I swear. I'm sure they were watching and I needed you to react like I was dead. Otherwise they might have come after you to get to me."

Meg pulled her hand out of his. "What did you do this time?" She cocked her head, "Besides fake your death causing all your loved ones untold grief."

"I went to Karen and threatened to go public with the clinical trials they have been running on compound 248."

"What?" Meg snatched her hand back like she had been burned. Quickly she gathered her book and purse and fled the table. Christian raced after her. "Get away from me!" Meg hissed.

"I had to." Christian begged, "You know I lost the board position at St. Sebastian, that left me full time gathering autopsy data. I couldn't take it even soused off my ass."

Meg darted through the foot traffic trying to escape. She toppled over a stack of duffel bags in her haste. Christian tried to help her up but Meg fought. Twisting away she dashed into the women's restroom. Hearing the door open behind her she quickly locked herself into a stall.

"Meg?" She heard Christian's voice call out. Careful to be quieter than the hum of the ceiling fans Meg closed the toilet lid and crawled up on it to hide. "Meg?" he called again.

She heard a stall door swing open. "Meg, I'm sorry." Another stall door shifted on its hinges. "Marylin didn't give me any choice. She… She enrolled Jack." Meg could hear the desperation in his voice. Damn him to hell, but she still loved him. She put her hand over her mouth as an extra precaution against offering him solace. Another stall door. Had she found the only deserted women's bathroom in the whole airport, Meg agonized. "With me dead, Jack would be the only family she has left. It was the only way to get her to pull Jack's enrollment out of the program."

The door to the terminal opened. Meg could hear the burst of noise it let in. She could hear someone gasp. An elderly woman cried, "Pervert! Help!" Christian cursed and the door to the terminal swung open again.

A few more minutes passed and Meg climbed down off the toilet. Cautiously she opened the stall door. Six elderly women were the only ones left in the bathroom. Quickly she made an act of washing her hands and fled the bathroom. Meg clutched her purse trying to stop herself from shaking.

Two big men escorted a shackled Kate back to the room with mirrored walls. Sawyer stood as they shoved her inside. He waited until they had closed the door behind them to step towards her. Kate looked at the metal cuffs in disgust before giving Sawyer's free hands a resentful glare. Made an attempt to escape and it didn't work?" Sawyer guessed.

Kate ignored him. "Where's Jack?" She asked.

Sawyer shrugged, "How the hell should I know. Maybe the lost boys got a clue and started to ask Jack about Jack."

Kate looked at Sawyer, "They asked you about Jack? What did you say?"

Sawyer settled back into a comfortable sitting position. "Told them about that little incident where Jack and Sayid had fun shoving bamboo under my fingernails." He wiggled his fingers for effect.

Kate frowned, "They kept asking me about how Boone and the marshal died. I think they think Jack killed them." Sawyer raised his eyebrow as if to say, "Well?" Both of them fell silent, giving the mirrored walls a wary glance.

"Did they ask you about his tattoo?" Kate whispered. It was beginning to bother her that she hadn't known the answers to the questions they had asked. Jack was dependable, good, always there to fix anything she couldn't get out of herself. Sawyer was supposed to be the bad boy, accessible and interesting because of his troubled past. Sawyer lied and she caught him at it because it was the same sort of thing she would do in the situation. Kate thought back on the personal conversations she had had with Jack. Jack didn't lie exactly. It was more that he didn't say anything. Kate turned to Sawyer, "I think he said he lost his dad."

Sawyer pushed his hair back off his face. He tried cover up his building sense of unease, "You know Freckles? It makes me feel good knowing I know more about the guy than you do."

"What do you mean?" She asked. He just gave her a smug knowing smile in return.