Hi to you all! This chapter is not too long. But I just wanted to keep on writing (I don't want to run the risk of never ending this story). Hope you enjoy en please leave a review!

"James?"

"Mmmm?"

"You ever think about just giving up?"

"Give up on what?"

"On trying to get off this island."

He was stroking her neck with his left hand and why does she need to bring this up right now? "Are you saying you wanna start livin' like those peeps in the Blue Lagoon?"

She chuckled. "You've seen that film?"

"My cousin made me watch."

"Sure."

"And Brooke Shields was hot."

She lifted her head from his chest and pushed herself up. There was a strong wind outside and it was difficult to hear the waves. She felt James' hand on her lower back now, drawing circles with his thumb. He didn't say anything.

Maybe this was not the right time to talk about this again. They were having such a great night together and James had actually been quite romantic. Why can't I just be happy with what I have? Juliet hated this restless feeling that seemed to catch her whenever they'd been doing nothing but hang out at the beach for a couple of days. She wished she had it in her to just live like Rose and Bernard had (or still were?). Being together had been enough for them. Why couldn't she just be content like that? Then again, she had been exactly that at Dharma Ville, with James (and Jin and Miles, Amy and Horace, her simple job, their cute house, their almost predictable days…). But that was all before they had come back, before hydrogen bombs, more time travel, crashed planes, the return of Claire, and the encounter with that Black Smoke. Peaceful living was in the past.

"Care to share your thoughts?" she heard him ask after a while.

"I'm just thinking that they totally messed up the casting in that film. That guy… Totally NOT hot."

She heard him chuckle. "Give the guy a break Blondie. We can't all be blessed with fabulous looks."

"You humbleness is endearing as ever."

"I'm just saying." He lifted himself up, his hand moving up to her neck. He kissed her shoulder, then touched her cheek and kissed her lips. It was sweet and gentle. He was clearly not trying to change the mood by distracting her with sex (something he had done many times in the past). "You want to go see our eyeliner friend again, don't ya?"

She sighed against his lips. "I just want to make sure we did everything we could."

"Me too."

"Really?"

"Sweetheart. You're talking to the guy who spent three years searching grids for a bald guy also known as John Locke. I'm not one for giving up."

So, they spoke to Miles and Jin the next morning. They were all still in favor of visiting Richard. If any of what Claire had said was true, anything at all, then it would be silly to just sit here and wait. Rescue would probably never come. Jin excused himself from going on this new trip though. He had been staying closer to Sun again since their encounter with the Black Smoke. They did all agree that Claire had to come along though. And that the rest of them had to stay put here at camp. 'The more the merrier' was something that did not work for this trip.

Surprisingly, Jack didn't object when they asked him to stay behind. Kate did however. But after some convincing she gave in. The arguments against them going again were just too strong: they didn't know Richard like Juliet, Sawyer and Miles did. And they didn't know the island that well either. A few months on the island were nothing compared to a few years.

Hurley was the only one who couldn't be persuaded to stay back. "I've been the only in our group who has possibly seen Jacob." Juliet raised her eyebrows and quickly glanced at Sawyer. Hurley continued "I always thought I was…well… crazy. Now it turns out that Jacob might actually exist. I want to know. I have a right to come too guys."

"You've seen Jacob my ass. You've seen a wooden cabin. Which wasn't even real. Sounds more like one of your ghost stories, Buster." Sawyer stated cynically.

"Well… Whatever dude… I'm coming to see Richard."

Juliet looked at James, who just shook his head and raised his hand. "Whatever."

Miles was smiling. "Just tell 'm the real reason man. You just can't be without me."

Manilla, Philippines

There she was.

"Have you found it?" he asked. He was sitting on a bench in the hotel courtyard. Three suitcases and two handbags were next to him on the floor.

"Yes. They said it's just a 20 minute drive from here. We can be on the water in a couple of hours." She walked towards him, looking at him intensely. "You still sure you want to do this?"

"I have to Pen. Are you still with me?"

She sat down next to him and closed her eyes for a second, then turned her eyes on him again. "You are letting go after this? Even if it fails?"

"I promise."

"Then I'm with you."

Desmond sighed and touched her cheek with his hand. "Let's go wake up Charlie then?"

"I'll get him" Penny whispered. She turned around and walked across the courtyard to their hotel room.

It had been difficult to persuade her to come with him. Because that was exactly what it had been: him persuading her. He had made the decision all by himself to do this, and he'd felt horribly guilty because of it. He had tried to explain as best as he could why he felt obligated to go, why this would haunt him for the rest of his life if he didn't go. "I owe them Pen. If it hadn't been for them, I'd still be stuck there." And she'd agreed to come.

Half an hour later, they reached the harbor of Manilla. An elderly man walked up to them and – in broken English – welcomed them and offered to show them their boat. Desmond paid their taxi driver and they followed the Filipino. The harbor was massive and very chaotic. Sailboats from all shapes and sizes were docked in between motor boats. In the distance Desmond could see some bigger vessels. They passed a group of man who seemed to be arguing about something in an unknown language. The Filipino man, who had introduced himself as Vicente, walked in the direction of the larger ships. He stopped in front of one of the more decent looking ones, and turned around.

"This is your boat" he said with a triumphant smile. Several men were already on board. Some were carrying goods around. Others were just hanging out, smoking cigarettes. The boat was smaller than the one Penny had used; the one that had gotten him and the Oceanic 6 rescued. It also looked older. But the island had been in a different location back then, in the middle of the Pacific, 3000 miles away from the nearest main land. The coordinates Mrs. Hawking had given him this time pointed to a location 'only' 600 miles east of the Philippines. Besides, it had been difficult enough to find this ship.

He had found Eloise in the exact same place as last time, a church building in Los Angeles. She hadn't been surprised to see him. After all, she was the one who had given his name to Hugo Reyes' father. She violated a vital rule by making that decision. Island coordinates were only to be disclosed to people who Jacob had approved of. But there was something about the despair in that old man's voice when he had called her. It made her own pain over losing her son come to life again. The island had taken enough children. So when Desmond Hume showed up on her doorstep, she had allowed him to enter. If he was willing to go, she was willing to help.

Standing in front of 'their' ship, Desmond looked at Penny. What do you think? He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Let's have a look." She said, more aimed at Vicente than at Desmond. The man smiled and walked onto the gangway. Penny now looked back at Desmond. It will be fine.

Back on the island

They left at sunrise. Miles was actually excited to be out and about again. His leg had healed completely and truth be told, he needed a change of scene. He walked in front with Sawyer and Juliet could see they were happy to be on 'patrol' together again. Close behind them was Hurley. She herself was walking next to Claire. They hardly said a word.

Richard's camp was easily found the second time around. And they weren't welcomed by people with guns this time. But there were a lot of stares, especially at Miles and Hurley since they were the new faces. Richard knew about their arrival before they had good and well reached his tent. He was standing outside, arms crossed, face neutral. Sawyer and Juliet greeted him and he replied with a polite nod. He glanced at Hurley and Miles and then looked at Claire.

"I heard you switched camp. Is that correct?"

Claire rubbed her hands together. She looked slightly nervous. "I wanted to find out about my son" she replied quietly.

"And?"

"You were right. He's off the island. He's with my mother." She was staring at the ground.

"Excellent." Richard stretched his arms and turned to Sawyer and Juliet. "Now do what do I owe a visit this time?" He let his eyes wander to Miles and Hurley again.

Soon they found themselves sitting in the same setting as about a week ago, inside Richard's tent. Richard kept quiet, as usual. Sawyer was looking for the right words to start their little get together. He didn't know what Richard was willing to share. He didn't want to ruin their chances by starting off on the wrong foot.

"Listen Richard." He inhaled.

"I'm listening."

"We've had contact with the main land." He studied Richard's face. Nothing. He continued: "You know about the plane on Hydra island. The one that made all those yahoos come back here. It's dead. We were there a couple of weeks ago to check it out. But we managed to get the satphone working."

He paused and looked over at Juliet. Her face was calm and reassuring and it gave him the confidence to continue. "Hugo here contacted his daddy. Told him to trace down Eloise Hawking and all." He looked at Richard, waiting for a response.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Is there more to your story?"

"No. That's about it."

"You didn't try to call someone else?"

What's with the questions? "No."

Richard looked at the ground between his feet. Then he looked up again and let his eyes wander from Claire to Juliet, Sawyer, Hurley and Miles. A small smile played on his face.

"Is the phone still working?"

"I don't know. We improvised. It's not like we're phone magicians."

"Why didn't you tell me this the last time you were here?"

Sawyer sighed and kept quiet. It wouldn't really help to say he didn't trust the guy.

"You came here asking me if I had had contact with the main land, when you just made a phone call." Richard's voice was calm but it was obvious he was annoyed.

"We didn't know then what we know now." Juliet offered.

"And what's that?"

Juliet looked at Claire for a brief second before answering Richard. "That Jacob actually exists."

Richard gazed at her. "You've always known that Juliet. Ben never kept it a secret who we were answering to." He shook his head.

"Ben had lots of stories. And not all of them were necessarily true."

"I guess you chose to disbelieve the wrong ones."

Sawyer pushed a hand through his hair. "You're little blonde girlfriend here…", he pointed at Claire, "…has been sharing a story about us being candidates. She said your buddy Jacob is keen to retire and needs someone to take over. And that that's why we won't get off this island. Any of that true?"

"Yes James. Although you can't possibly comprehend what all that actually means."

"Enlighten me."

"I can't share with you any information without talking to Jacob."

"OK." Sawyer sighed. Why were so many people keen on doing what their boss told them to do? What's up with free will? Guess that came along long after Richard was born.

He shook of the cynical thoughts. "Just give me this one… Hypothetically speaking... If Hurley's daddy contacted Eloise, and if Eloise agreed to help him, and if he got a boat or whatever… Is it true that he would never reach the island without permission from island management?"

"She would never help him."

"I said 'hypothetically'."

"'Hypothetically' speaking, you are right."

"And all this because we're 'candidates'?"

"Right again."

"Then we stop being candidates, whatever that means anyway."

"If that happens, you are no longer protected. And don't ask me from what, because you know that perfectly well. I'm sorry James."

"So you're saying that our options are to stay here until this Jacob fellow makes up his mind, if he ever does, or lose protection and try to leave with the risk of getting killed before we even get off?"

"And once again, you are correct."

"That's just awesome."

No one said a word for a while. Then Hurley asked that one question that he'd been dying to ask. "Can we talk to Jacob?"

"I'm sorry Hugo. That can't happen."

"Why not dude? Why… I've seen him before."

"If Jacob comes looking for you, that's his business. But you can't go looking for him." And with those words Richard raised himself from the tree trunk he was sitting on and opened his tent. The meeting was obviously over. "It's getting dark. Why don't you share a meal with us. I wouldn't want to sent you off into the jungle at night. You can sleep in one of the empty tents. Sara will show you." He pointed at a young woman standing close by.

As they were following the woman to their sleeping spot for the night, Richard called Sawyer and Juliet back.

"You wanna tell me where the loo is too?"

"Listen, because I'm only saying this once." Richard said, ignoring Sawyer's comment. "I can talk to Jacob for you. But think carefully about what you want. If you decide to bail, you might not live."

That's another wrap! Will Jacob be of any help? Stick around to find out in the next chapter :)