So I guess this is kind of a song fic, if it's legal to take out chunks of the lyrics that you don't want to deal with in a songfic. I know Love Story by Taylor Swift is overly used in fanfiction, but I think it works well for Desmond and Penny. This is much truer to the show than to the the lyrics; they were just the inspiration. I've never tried this format before and I'm not really sure if I like it, so I'd love to hear what you think and if I should take the lyrics out.

Thanks for reading!

Sarah

We were both young when I first saw you

He wasn't sure if God would approve of him going on a date within a day of leaving the monastery. It couldn't be normal, but what about him was? He was making history as the most rebellious monk (ex monk) of all time here in this black car with crates stacked in the back.

"So how was it, being a monk?" Penny asked, staring at the road.

"Boring, mostly."

"So, give me a typical day at the monastery."

"Let's see...wake up, pray, eat, pray, read, pray...pray..." they laughed. "It was supposed to be a big 'self-learning experience'. Help me find my place in the world. Didn't do much."

"Maybe it did." She glanced up at him. He smiled, looked away.

"Maybe."

He helped unload the boxes in Carlisle, just as she said he would. This was her excuse for having him along on the ride. Unloading the boxes.

"Here we are," he said, placing two on the floor with the rest. "That's the last of them."

"Great. Thank you so much for helping, Desmond."

"Sure." He stared at her, waiting for her to take his number, ask him out, invite him to stay, kiss him, do something. He didn't drive all the way down here for the damn boxes.

"Well, I uh, best be going," he said, taking a step back.

"Thank you again for your help."

He faked a smile and turns away. There was no way this could be happening. No one would flirt with someone and have them drive all this way just to get an extra set of hands. Was she waiting for him to ask her?

He kept walking and is almost at the corner when she calls. "Desmond."

He looked back. "Aye?"

"Don't go too far."

He grinned. "And why not?"

"We're going out for dinner tomorrow."

I close my eyes
And the flashback starts
I'm standing there
On a balcony in summer air

He never really expected this to go far. Honestly, Desmond Hume was a failure. At least in his own mind he was. He failed at all of his past relationships, he failed at finding a job, he failed at being a monk. He couldn't really see how this beautiful blonde could be any everything else in his life.

But they made it through that first dinner. And they made it through the second. And the third and the fourth on the fifth. They made it the through the night when they ordered in take out and ate it on paper plates on the floor in front of some old French movie playing on his crappy TV. To her stroking his hair and him nibbling at her neck. And suddenly the plates and plastic cups were knocked over and he was lifting her onto the couch and she was tugging at the zipper of his jeans. At some point they rolled over the remote and volume of the long-forgotten French movie raised to its max, but they still managed to drown it out.

They made it through that morning in her room. The patterned red duvet on the bed with a headboard that was hand carved and cover original artwork hanging on her walls always made him uncomfortable because he could never afford to give her luxuries like this. But she was sick and tired of him trying to take care of her when she could take care of himself, so he forced himself to stay at her place instead of dragging her back to his.

The sun was only just rising, seeping in through the window and pooling on her fancy bedding. They were just staring at each other, touching each other, when he looked at the clock.

"I have to go to work," he murmured against her neck.

"No you don't."

"I need the money, Pen."

"One day's pay isn't going to put you out on the streets Des." She wanted to add that she could keep him off the streets even if he never worked again, but she knew better then to start that with him.

"I still need to go."

She rolled on top of him, imprisoning him between her body and the imported blankets, a constant reminder that he wasn't on her level. That he needed to go to work, if only to keep his dignity intact.

"You don't," she whispered seductively. "I won't let you."

"You're torturing me."

"Come on Des, stay. Let's just spend the day here." She stroked his face and laughed at his weak attempts to escape. "I love you."

That got him to stop trying to free himself. He stared at her. He'd imaged her saying that for months, but it never sounded quite as beautiful as this.

"That's just plain cruel, trying to bribe into in to staying."

"No," she laughed, throwing her arms around him. "I'm just saying it. I mean, sure, persuading you to stay would be a plus, but I mean it. I love you Desmond."

"I love you too."

He kissed her, long and deep, but in the end he still squirmed out from underneath her and went left for work.

They made it through fights about money. Through a full year and then some. They made it through her moving in.

But when he opened his eyes to find himself on the floor, covered in the red paint he was using on the walls with the warm summer air coming through the windows and the busted air conditioning doing nothing at all, he couldn't shake the feeling that this had all happened before. That these were flashes of the past, and he and Penny weren't going to make it through much more.

You were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles

And my daddy said stay away from Juliet

He wasn't good enough for Widmore's whiskey and he wasn't good enough for his daughter. Of course he knew this all before, but he never had a third party's opinion. It was never confirmed.

He hated Widmore. He was a prick who thought his money reserved him a seat on the top of the world where he could sit all day and laugh at his minions. He thought he could control his daughters life even though she should be controlling her own.

But what he hated most of all about Widmore was that he was exactly right when it came what kind of man Desmond was and what kind of life he didn't deserve.

And I was crying on the staircase

Begging you please don't go

She knew that Desmond was upset about her father, but she had no idea he was this upset. Upset enough to leave her in the middle of the city street.

She cried as she walked down the boardwalk, past the photographer who had just minutes ago convinced them to take a picture. Something to show the grandkids.

She wanted to run back and tell Desmond they can fix this. Tell him they can find a common ground about the money; that this didn't have to be the end, that one day she wants grandkids to see that picture, but she didn't do any of it.

She had too much pride for that.

She wanted to tear the picture to shreds and throw it into the water. Their broken relationship could go bake itself at home at the bottom of the ocean. But she didn't do that either.

She was still too in love for that.

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run

They'd be so free here. No Widmore, no money. Nothing. He almost thought she'd like it here. The exotic fruits, the fresh air, the warm sand and an endless ocean of pure, blue ocean.

But then he'd think about the Others and the smoke monsters and the fear they all live in and this isn't the perfect tropical retreat they had dreamed of escaping too. This is hell, and he'd never bring her here.

Sometimes he snuck out of his tent at night to look out at the black ocean that formed a mini globe of its own. An isolated world. No matter which way you sailed, the path curved and led you right back to this rock.

He sat there, staring out past this world and into the one she was in, and wondered if she had moved on. If he was good, he would want her to. She shouldn't remove herself from her life just because he's not in it, She shouldn't refuse to see other men when he'll probably never make it back to her.

But he doesn't want her to move on. Because the only thing that keeps him going sometimes is the thought of her waiting when (if) he made it home.

So I sneak out to the garden to see you

We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew

If Widmore found out, he'd find a way to pull a plug on the entire operation. But he hasn't found out, and he won't. Somehow, she's found a way to keep thins whole search under the radar. She's done it all on her own, without his money, without his resources.

She was going to find Desmond or lose everything trying.

I got tired of waiting
Wondering if you were ever coming around
My faith in you is fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town

It wasn't that she was giving up. She would be dead before she stopped looking. But she wasn't hoping anymore. Her faith was draining as quickly as her bank account. Her expectations were as empty as her heart. It's been three years and every time she thought she was close, it turned out to be nothing more than a well concealed dead end. Maybe he was really gone.

And then her phone rang on Christmas Eve.

"I don't know where I am, but-"

"I'll find you, Des"

"I promise"

"No matter what"

"I'll come back to you"

"I won't give up"

"I promise"

"I promise"

"I love you."

And it wasn't a dead end. It was a red sticker on a map and a route to get there.

It was a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean, eighteen miles away from the red dot on her map. It was her running down the narrow hallways and him climbing up the side. It was them meeting in the middle, the taste of his lips so different but the feel of them so the same.

It was sailing on a boat with him at her side and a child in her arms.

Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head? I don't know what to think

At least this time she had Charlie.

She knew that her father did this. That he took him back there.

She tried sailing back but dammit she didn't have a map and it'd been years since she went there the first time and she had no idea.

Charlie kept asking about and she couldn't think up more excuses. Couldn't say he's out visiting family ("why doesn't he call? Why didn't he invite us?") Couldn't say he's doing business. ("He's never left for business before?") So she took him up on the deck and explained to him that Daddy was taken somewhere really hard to find, and that if he's not brought back soon they'll go looking for him, but it might take a while.

And then, right before she was about to break down and cry, seeing Charlie's quivering lip, she heard it.

"That's your boat, right dude?" A booming voice called.

Penny grabbed her sons hand and led him to the edge of the boat.

And there was a life boat a hundred feet away.

"Desmond," she whispered.

"Daddy!" Charlie screeched.

"That's it," Desmond confirmed, beginning to paddle at an inhuman speed.

"Desmond!"

"Penny!" He yelled. "I'm coming!"

He climbed up, and the second his feet were on the boat, Charlie charged at him.

"Daddy!"

"Hey buddy." He scooped him up and kissed his head. Charlie placed hi small arms around his shoulders. Desmond looked up at her with tears in his eyes. She took a step toward him.

"Is it over?" she whispered.

He nodded. "It's over."

She wrapped her arms around her son and husband, pressed his lips against his. "I love you, Des."

"I love you too."

She kissed him once more and then took his hand in hers. "Come on. Let's go inside."

Marry me Juliet

You'll never have to be alone

I love you and thats all I really know

They stayed on the boat. They'll go back to the mainland soon. Charlie needed to start school soon. He needs friends. But they weren't ready just quite yet.

Sometimes she thought about her father. Thought maybe she should feel a little more...something about him being gone. But she didn't. He lost her trust and her respect years ago.

Desmond carried two plates of ice cream into the bedroom where Penny was flipping through pages in a magazine.

"Mint chocolate chip, three scoops as ordered."

"Oh, that looks good," she laid the magazine at her side and reached for the plate. It made a small sound as it clunk against her wedding band. "I hope there's more."

"Of course," he laughed. He climbed in next to her and draped an arm over her shoulder. She moved in closer to him, but was more focused on her mint chocolate chip.

"Mmm. I cannot believe how good this stuff is!"

He shook his head and laughed. "Just like last time," he murmured. And then he rested a hand against the giant bulge in her belly.

Cause we were both young when I first saw you

They don't know where all the years went. They have grey hair and brittle bones and spend most of their time in their little house in London. Sometimes Claire visits, less and less now as she reaches her seventies. Sometimes Kate calls. That's even rarer. They haven't heard from Sawyer since the island, but that's probably for the best. His island life is behind him anyway.

Mostly.

The door swings open. "Mom! Dad!"

"In here, sweetie!" Penny calls.

Olivia appears in the kitchen where Penny is setting snacks on a platter and Desmond is making coffee. "Hey," she gives them both a quick peck on the cheek and sets her bags down on the table. "How are you guys?"

"Fine. Where are the kids?"

"Tom's getting them out of the car. Charlie just texted me. He and Amy are on their way."

"Good."

Penny sets the food out on the table as the kids come running in. "Hi grandma! Hi grandpa!"

Jake and Maddie run to them, almost knock them down with their hugs.

"Can we play a game?" Maddie asks.

"Let's wait til Samantha gets here, alright?" Samantha, Charlie's daughter, is eleven and probably won't want to play a game, but they'll ask her anyway.

They sit around the coffee table, eating chips and crackers. Maddie picks something off the side table. "What's this?"

"It's a picture of your grandma and I from when we were young."

"Where was it taken?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Desmond asks quietly, leaning in close. She nods.

"It was taken right here in London. The back ground is fake."

"That's cheating."

"Yes I suppose it is," Desmond laughs.

"It's ancient," Jake declares, looking over at it. "When's it from?"

Desmond smiles at Penny. Squeezes her hand.

"Another life."