Where is the island? James was staring at the horizon in disbelief, blinking several times, not trusting his eyes to display reality. But he knew exactly what had happened. Kate had told him their side of the story back in Dharma: the island had disappeared on them when the flashes started. Hurley had told him the same thing.

His hands were gripping the window panes and he squeezed his eyes again, as if that would change things. He felt nauseous as the first signs of panic started hitting him. What lunatic…? Who would be so ridiculously stupid (or evil) to go down the Orchid? With Ben gone and Locke gone, what possible insane person would do that?

It was quiet behind him and for a moment he thought Penny and Hurley had left. But when he turned around they were just sitting there, Penny holding a cup of tea, Hurley searching the internet, probably for news on the Ajira crash. Had they not noticed?

Sawyer's dumbfounded look caught Penny's attention and she put down her cup.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Hurley closed the laptop and turned around to look at Sawyer as well.

James opened his mouth to speak, but didn't get beyond "It's…." He raised his right hand to point outside.

Hurley stood from his chair and walked over to Sawyer. Penny was drawn to the radar console. A red light was flickering and the monitors were blank.

"The system is down" she stated, while pressing several buttons. She walked towards the staircase and called downstairs for assistance from any of the crewmen.

What was she doing? Woman, can you please look outside?

"It happened again" Hurley mumbled, and it was then that James knew for sure his eyes were not betraying him. He managed to walk over to the table and let himself fall back into the nearest chair.

The ship's crew managed to get the system back online. And once it was, everyone could see for themselves that the island was gone. The radar showed nothing apart from irregularities in the ocean's bottom and some underwater sea life. The one mile bounce barrier was also gone. Everything was gone.

Three of the crewmen, the captain and two others, were talking in their local language. Penny was standing next to them, her eyes frightened, asking them repeatedly to translate and let her in on the conversation. Sawyer was still standing by the window, fighting a growing headache.

Hurley, who seemed to recover quickly from the shock, went downstairs to get Sun and when they both returned, the bridge had gone totally quiet. Penny stared at the captain who was pushing several buttons. The two other crewmen just stood there, not knowing what to do or how to respond to the anguish of the nice lady from England. After a few minutes, the captain turned away from the monitors and looked at Penny. "Mrs. Hume, I'm sorry. I really don't know what happened."

The island's gone. Sawyer listened to the heavy pounding that was still inside his head. He closed his eyes and saw flashes of Juliet, Jin and Miles jumping through time. Their headaches would be so much worse. And the nose bleeds. He pushed the thought that this time the flashes might be deadly aside. Suddenly, another thought came up. What if… What if we're gone? What if the island's still fixed but we moved?

Of all the crazy things. Why the hell not? He felt the tiniest bit of hope emerge inside of him. If it was them that had moved, all they had to do was get back to where the island was.

"Where are we?" he asked while walking to the control panel. Six faces turned towards him. Sun looked pale, kind of grey even. Sawyer turned to the captain and repeated his question, more urgent this time. "Where are we? Can you see where we are? Are we still in the same spot?" He frantically pointed his finger at the panel in front of him.

The Filipino walked over to him, his head just reaching Sawyer's shoulder. He took a pair of glasses out of his shirts pocket, put them onto his nose and studied the different monitors.

"Yes" he said. "We are at the same location. Why would we not be?" He turned to look at Sawyer but his head stopped halfway as his gaze stayed fixed on the radar monitor. "What is that?" he asked, while pointing his right index finger to the far right corner of the radar screen.

There were lots of lines and dots on the radar, smaller ones and bigger ones. Rocks, uneven ground, reef maybe. Fish and other sea life. But there were five dots that were significantly bigger. They were close together. And they were not moving.

What the hell?

Desmond and Jin had stopped swimming. Juliet could still hear Miles' heavy breathing behind her. Kate was coughing in the distance. At least they were all still together. Juliet instinctively reached for her nose. No blood. She looked up at Desmond and Jin, while keeping her arms and legs moving to stay afloat. Both men had turned around.

"What is it?" she panted.

Jin brought his hands to his eyes to rub water out of them. "The island" he answered. "It's gone."

Juliet now looked back as well. The sun had set but even with the remaining daylight she could still see it clearly. The island was gone. Or, out of sight.

"What if it's beyond the horizon? Maybe it's still there but we just can't see it?" she dared to ask. Being surrounded only by endless amounts of water made her feel anxious. She was cold, and shivered.

A few minutes later... The sound of an engine… followed by the shape of a small boat. The same surreal feeling that had hit her when Desmond had first showed up on the beach came over her again. But this time, she was crying within seconds, knowing who it had to be, knowing what it had to mean. Oh please God.

"Jack!" came Kate's voice from behind her.

It was Jack. And Frank. They were right next to them now. Happy, relieved, ecstatic. No James, Sun or Hurley. Where are they? They would be on the ship, right? They had to be on the ship.

Jack pulled in Miles first, followed by Kate, Juliet, Jin and Desmond.

Jin asked Jack about Sun. And yes, they were all back with Penny, Desmond's wife.

Frank was talking non-stop, going on and on about how this was a miracle, how they'd been trying to get back to the island for two days. How they failed for two days. Two days?

Jack's switched from intense relief to his practical doctor's mode within minutes, asking everyone if they were ok, how they were feeling, if they had any wounds. There were water bottles and Juliet drank gratefully. She was shivering even more now that she was out of the water. It was windy, daylight was almost gone and she was drenched.

"Don't worry" Frank said as he gently rubbed her upper back. "We'll get you warm in no time." He took the satphone from Jack and switched it on.

"We got them" he announced before anyone at the other end of the line could even speak. Juliet heard Hurley's distant chatter in response, cheering, asking questions. But Frank didn't seem to pay attention as he lowered the phone.

"Where is Claire?" he asked.

On the island, two hours earlier

"What will happen to the island?" she asked while doing her best to keep up with him. His legs were much longer than hers and his pace was fast.

"Do you really care for that Claire?" she heard him answer.

"Yes, I care."

Jacob stopped walking and turned his head around to face her. "It will be safe again."

"From him?"

He nodded. Claire looked at him, hoping for a little more information but Jacob kept quiet. His eyes… blue like Charlie's, but so intense. He briefly smiled at her before turning around to continue walking.

They reached the Orchid well within two hours. Claire recognized the construction, but had always thought it was just an abandoned Dharma station. While walking, Jacob had explained to her what he expected her to do. She was to turn a giant underground wheel, and while doing so, she would be transported of the island. When she asked more questions (Where will I be going? Will I be alive?) Jacob told her he would explain everything once they had arrived.

And now they had. Still standing outside, Jacob opened up his bag to check his watch.

"Listen carefully" Jacob started, not taking his eyes of the watch. "You will end up in Tunisia. There will be people there who can help you get back home. Listen to them, work with them. You can trust them."

"What am I supposed to do after I leave?" All of a sudden Claire felt hesitant, unsure whether she really wanted to go. When she volunteered to come on this trip, she had no idea it would mean leaving the island. Would she be able to live in the normal world again? Would she be able to adjust?

"You are supposed to become a mother again."

"Aaron doesn't know me anymore."

"Then he will get to know you."

"I am not a good person." She felt tears coming and Jacob picked up on the slight tremble in her voice. He took the rope from his bag and tied one end around his waist. He then walked over to Claire to hand her the other end.

"We can fix that." He helped her tighten the rope.

"What is this for?" Claire asked.

"He will be coming. I don't want him to even touch you. This way, you are connected to me." That actually made her laugh. A rope? Really?

He gestured to a nearby rock and they both sat. Small raindrops started coming down.

"I want you to take on a job." He took a piece of paper out of his back pocket and handed it to Claire. She unfolded it and read:

Eloise Hawking (b: 1942)

On island: 1970 - 1978

Position: Keeper island gateway (1985 – present)

Location: Lamp Post Station, Los Angeles, USA

"Eloise Hawking controls who gets access to the island's location and who doesn't. She is my main partner off the island. However, she doesn't know me. She has always answered to Richard. But he is dead now."

That news startled Claire. The piece of paper fell from her hand. Jacob bent down to pick it up.

"I'll miss him too" he said quietly while handing the paper back to Claire. He looked at her compassionately.

Suddenly, something shifted in his expression and he lifted himself from the rock.

"He's moving now. We have to go down." He held out his hand. When Claire took it he pulled her close. His gaze was intense and she felt a shiver going through her body.

"I want you to take over from Eloise. If you do this, I will help you in whatever way I can."

"What do you mean?"

"I will bring you back to our side, Claire. You can be free of him. Really free."

She stared down at his hand still holding hers. She could feel his breath on her forehead. Really free… She closed her eyes and tried to remember Aaron's face. She had almost forgotten what he looked like. Could things really be ok?

"OK." she mumbled finally.

Jacob brought his mouth to her ear, still not letting go of her hand. "Just make me one promise. Stay close to Kate. She needs him too."

Claire lifted her head and looked into Jacob's eyes. They were beautiful, deep blue and kind. And he needed her help. She couldn't remember the last time someone had really needed her.

"Do you think Kate will make it?" she whispered.

"I hope they all make it."

He led her down the Orchid into a dark, freezing cold cave. That's where the wheel was. Claire shivered. Jacob stayed close to the exit while she moved towards the wheel. When she placed her hands over it he called her name.

"A year from now, I will come for you. We will talk about things then. But first, settle down and get to know your son. Rest. And when we meet, be ready to take on the job."

He smiled. And she smiled back.

One more chapter to go!