There hadn't really been a lengthy argument. Just some old fashioned name calling and shouting back and forth between the two canoes. Jack was pissed at Sawyer for not pushing Richard for Eloise Hawking's info. Sawyer was pissed at Jack because, well, it was still Jack. James was worried about Juliet, worried sick about Miles. Being worried was nauseating, being angry was easy. Besides, Jack could still get under his skin and who the hell was the Doc to yell at him anyway! But both men's anger was short lived. Some calming words from Frank and some decisive words from Sun soothed the atmosphere.

Sawyer could see smoke spiraling upwards at the far end of the small island, probably coming from campfires that were being lit as the survivors of the Ajira plane prepared for the upcoming night. Signs of life. But there was no point in continuing on that road now. They agreed on going back to the main island instead. Back to Jin, Juliet, Kate. Back to Miles. And then back to Jacob. Something had gone wrong and Jacob was their best hope on getting things fixed. Richard's compelling request to head West onto open water was thrown into the wind, just like that.

Sawyer grabbed his paddle, stains of Miles' blood staring at him from the bottom of the canoe. He tried to ignore them and firmly started rowing in the direction of their beach camp. Everyone else followed his lead. The sun was going to set in an hour or two. The camp was halfway across the island, but if they kept going, they might make it before dark.

Wind was gaining strength, causing the canoes to rock with the growing waves. At Frank's suggestion, they tried to move a little bit closer to the island in search of calmer water. It was obviously low tide though and a strong off-island current made it impossible to make any real progress that way. A waste of precious energy. Sawyer looked over his left shoulder. Hurley was breathing hard, sweat pouring down his face. Jack, Frank and Sun, with the advantage of an extra pair of hands on board, passed them on the left side. They too were having a hard time ploughing through the water.

"Let's get a little further onto open water! Waves might be less high there!" Jack yelled above the wind. Sawyer nodded, and both canoes angled to the right, away from the island.

He was watching the canoes slowly disappear towards the horizon. Richard had probably been aware of the ship and had told them about that. Damn them. The Man in Black, back in his human form, was leaning back against a boulder and closed his eyes.

This body was comfortable. So much more comfortable than the alcohol wretched one he was in before. No, this recent body was fit, even though it didn't look all that young. Being smoke was an exhausting state to be in. In human form he could rest, regain his strength. And that was exactly what he needed now. He was tired and his muscles were aching. Killing an eternal soul was far more intense than killing a normal one. But it had been the only one around and he had needed something to work off his anger. And truth be told: Richard had this one coming for a long time. The Man in Black had never expected it to be possible though. If he could pull this one off, maybe it meant that his powers were growing?

He had secretly hoped the extra work would mean extra satisfaction. And when he'd seen streaks of grey emerge in Richard's thick black hair, he'd felt proud. That's what you get for getting in my way. But when Richard had opened his eyes briefly, his smugness had vanished. Richard had looked happy. Thankful almost. I did him a favour…

His anger flared again and he looked at the body lying further down the beach. For a moment he thought about taking it, just to pull a stunt on everyone else. His current appearance was already too well known. But Richard was a bloody mess. Besides, the grey hair would alarm people. No. Switching bodies was not what he needed right now. What he needed was rest. And a new plan.

At the Statue of Taweret

They were gone. And Jacob would not let them get back.

Oh no… This was not how it was going to be. She had not spent six years (or was it seven already?) on this island to get fed this story. She felt dizzy. Her heartbeat was pounding against the insides of her skull.

It was now quiet inside Jacob's residence. Their own breathing and the small waves rolling onto the beach were the only sounds penetrating the stillness. The light from a small fire in the centre of the room casted large human shaped shadows onto the walls.

Jin had lowered his head into his hands, his shoulders were lightly shaking. Miles had awkwardly placed a hand on his friend's back, a sign of clumsy but heartfelt comfort. Kate and Claire were sitting next to each other, motionless. Desmond had stepped outside. He needed fresh air. His backpack was standing next to his empty seat.

Jacob started to talk again. Juliet could see his mouth moving, but she couldn't make out his words. It was like her ears had stopped functioning, or maybe the pounding noise in her brain drowned out all other sounds.

James.

He never even wanted to leave! He wanted to stay here on the island. He'd asked her to stay with him and she'd agreed. Oh, the bittersweet irony of it all. For a minute the dusty old ghosts that had been tucked away in the far corners of her mind came back to life, filling her head with cynical thoughts. Here you are again. Left behind. By a man… She tried to shake them off and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't need this old crap.

Juliet felt someone staring at her and when she looked up her eyes met Kate's. A friendly, slightly worried look. A non-verbal 'are you ok?' It was the distraction she needed. Juliet forced out a weak smile before turning her head to the right. Sound came pouring back in.

"What are you exactly? The local island god?" It was Miles, addressing Jacob.

"I'm not a god. I am the islands keeper. Its protector" was the answer he got.

"More like a prison keeper" Miles muttered, while digging the toes of his shoes a little deeper into the sand. "But for the record… what are you protecting it from?" He added, his voice growing quieter with every word.

"This island is special. It has large electromagnetic forces that can, if the wrong people get access to them, cause irreparable damage. I'm protecting the island from evil."

"That's it?" Miles asked, surprised. "I don't buy that man. You let the Dharma Initiative drill right into all sorts of energy fields. People died doing that you know!"

Desmond came walking back in. "I still have my phone!" he announced. He walked over to his bag, opened its zipper and dug up the telephone device. He approached Jacob. "Can you fix this?" his voice full of anticipation.

Jacob took the phone from him and held it firmly locked between his two hands. "Please sit down Desmond" he requested. "There is more that I have to tell you."

Desmond kept quiet en lowered himself onto his seat.

"The disagreement I have with my brother…" he started. "The guy you've come to know as 'John Locke'," he clarified "comes down to the fact that he believes men are evil. Corrupt and selfish. He believes that if the mystery of this island is somehow disclosed to its full extent, people will use it to their own advantage."

Miles opened his mouth to formulate another question but Jacob put up his right hand. "Please Miles, let me finish." He placed the phone on the floor next to him and continued. "I believe the exact opposite and I have been bringing people here to prove him wrong. I have been bringing people here so that they can exceed their own expectations. Or leave behind a dreadful past. I've watched people grow here. And I will continue to do that until my job is done."

Jacob paused for a bit, his eyes fixed on the flames of the fire. No one dared ask when his job would be done, scared as they were to trigger any conversation about being candidates and Jacob needing a successor. It had sounded so surreal when Claire first shared that story. And now that they were here, with Jacob, the reality of it all was just too spooky to comprehend.

When Jacob looked up again, his faces was soft, his eyes kind. "I can sense worry that I might ask you to stay." Juliet braced herself. Her hands felt sweaty. Miles had pulled his hand off of Jin's back. Everyone stared at Jacob.

"But I won't. If you want to leave you can leave. It's not without risk, but I've seen the upset with all of you about your friends being gone." He looked at Desmond. "Your ship is still here. You can go to it right now."

Desmond looked puzzled. "Go? How? We don't have a boat anymore." He gave Claire a brief nasty look.

"How do you suggest we leave, Jacob?" Juliet asked.

"You swim."

The ship was the most amazing, unlikeliest thing Sawyer had seen in a long time (not counting the 1970s Dharma Initiative, or Juliet for that matter). At first it was just a shivering black object on the horizon, like a Fata Morgana. Sawyer thought that even if he'd only blink once, it would be gone. But then a motorboat showed up, with three Asian looking men aboard. They spoke hasty and unclear English, but the name 'Desmond Hume' was unmistakably there in between words. Hurley, the first to put two and two together, jumped up and in his excitement almost tipped over the canoe. The rest of them were more skeptical. Who were these men? The memory of the misfortune with that damned freighter was still very much alive. Hurley couldn't be stopped though. He opted to go with the men to the ship and check things out. They had mentioned Penny's name as well and he was convinced this was all his dad's doing.

"What are the odds that there's a boat here, and these people know Desmond and Penny? Go figure guys. My dad did it!"

After a few minutes of frantic convincing from Hurley and more erratic English from the strangers, they let him go. Frank opted to go with him, and both he and Hurley climbed into the motor boat and headed off.

Not twenty minutes later, they were all on board of Penny's boat. Jack was clearly emotional when he found out that it was indeed Penny and that the same woman had come to his rescue twice. Introductions were quick. None of their group had seen Desmond, but listening to Penny's story it was likely that he was at their camp. The question was: why hadn't he returned? Communication had been down and Penny, although acting calm, was obviously on the verge of tears. A little boy came up from behind her and clenched his hands around her thigh.

"Is daddy back yet mummy?"

Oh Christ.

Another twenty minutes later and Sawyer was back in the motorboat. He and Sun would try and find a way back to the island. Penny might have been unable to penetrate this invisible 'island shield' or whatever it was, but maybe it would be different for them. It had to be different for them. Ain't we candidates for cryin' out loud?

Another forty minutes later and Sawyer found himself back at the ship leaning against the rail on starboard side, staring at the island in the distance. That sickening worried feeling was creeping up on him again, only this time it was much stronger as it all dawned on him. The tide, the wind. And now even with a motorboat they couldn't get any closer. Fuck you Jacob.

Hurley walked up to him and offered him a bottle of water.

"She'll be ok dude. Jacob will look after her."

Even though meant to cheer him up, Hurley's words made him want to take a swing at someone. On top of that, a sense of guilt was building inside of him rapidly and he felt his stomach tighten. He felt like crying but controlled it.

"It should have been her on this boat, not me."

"It's not your fault man."

"It is my fault" Sawyer lashed out. It sounded harsher than he'd intended. He sighed and took a sip of water, his eyes still fixed on the island. "On our first day with the DI… she was sitting at the dock outside of Dharmaville, ready to leave that place. I asked her to stay… because I didn't want to be alone." His voice trembled slightly, but either Hurley didn't pick up on it or ignored it not to make Sawyer feel any worse.

"A couple of weeks back, when Richard asked us all to choose, she wanted to risk it, take a chance on gettin' home. All she ever wanted, ya know. To go home. But I asked her the same damn thing. Left her no choice."

He paused for a second and swallowed. Hurley still kept quiet.

"I should've asked her to marry me" Sawyer whispered.

"Sawyer" Hurley placed his left hand on James' upper back. "You have to stay positive dude. The island is right there." He pointed his right index finger towards the horizon. "I think Jacob's a good guy man. And so are you. Things will be ok."

"Yeah" Sawyer sighed, but somehow Hurley's words did make him feel better.