"I can't believe you're even considering this."

"Come on, Kate, this is Hurley we're talking about. I can't believe you don't want to find some way to get him home."

"Sawyer, think about it. If Desmond could get off the island by walking through a door, then wouldn't Hurley have walked through the same door if he wanted to leave so badly?"

Miles pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. Richard was sitting on the bed next to Miles looking very uncomfortable as the other two people in the room had what could only be described as a lover's spat, except that Kate and Sawyer weren't lovers. Miles didn't think they were at the moment, anyway.

"If that's how you feel, then why in the hell are you even here?"

"To keep you from doing something stupid."

"I don't need you to babysit me, Kate."

Kate happened to glance over at Miles and Richard, and she seemed to feel for them. "We can have this argument later. Until Frank gets back, we should all get some rest."

"So who's bunking with who, sweetheart?"

She rolled her eyes at Sawyer's question. "Does it matter?"

"You are the lone female, so you should chose who you share your room with."

"Fine. I'll share a room with Richard."

Sawyer seemed stunned for a few seconds. "Richard?"

"You said I should chose, I've chosen."

Richard just sat there in stunned silence, not sure how to respond or even if he should say anything. "What about Frank?" he managed to ask. "He'll be back soon."

Richard asked Frank to earn some of the money that Mitellos paid him and fly Richard, Sawyer and Miles to Los Angeles. When they got there, Kate was waiting to meet them, having flown in from Sidney apparently to stop Sawyer from going back to the island. Frank, not really wanting all the drama, had said he was taking the car Richard rented at the airport and getting them some food while they checked into a Best Western. Unfortunately there were only two rooms available and they were not yet sure how they would work out having five people and only four beds between them.

"I think Sawyer's more his type," Kate quipped. "Come on, my stuff's already in the room next door so let's grab your luggage and head over there." She gave Richard a friendly smile. "You look tired, so I think you could use some rest and I know I need a few hours sleep."

"Go on," Sawyer said when he saw Richard glance at him. "We could all use some rest, and me and Enos here got some catching up to do."

"We do?" Miles asked.

"Yeah, we do." His face softened a bit when he turned to Kate. "You go get your beauty rest, Freckles."

Richard got up and grabbed the one suitcase he had packed. "You two should get some rest, too."

"Somehow I don't think any of us are going to get much sleep but..." Sawyer left the statement dangling and turned away so Richard followed Kate to the room next door.

"So you want to tell me why you didn't want to share a room with James?" Richard asked after they were in the room.

Kate smiled and shook her head slightly. "Too much history."

"You're afraid you'll end up in bed with him."

"What?" Kate's smile turned into a grim line as she glared at him.

"I saw the tape. The two of you in the polar bear cages."

Her cheeks flushed and she turned so her back was to him. "That was over three years ago. It was another lifetime."

"Forget it. I was out of line, and it's none of my business."

"How many other people saw it? Besides Ben, Jack and you."

"No one else that I know of. I wouldn't even have seen it but I wanted to review some tapes of...someone else, and the only machine that worked was the one on Hydra Island. Unfortunately Ben never bothered to remove the tapes after he showed them to Jack and I was curious as to what had been recorded. It's not like Ben loaned the tapes out as entertainment."

"No, I suppose he wouldn't."

"I didn't mean to embarrass you. I'm sorry I mentioned it."

"No you're not." She turned back to face him. "You meant to say it. What I can't figure out is why. Do you think Sawyer and I should get together or something?"

"I was just curious as to why you'd chose sharing a room with a stranger to sharing a room with him."

"Because I do know him, and I don't want to deal with him right now."

"I'm not trying to give you a hard time, Kate. We're both tired and I think a hot shower and some sleep will do us both a world of good."

"You're probably right. Why don't you shower first? I want to call Claire and let her know that I'm all right."

Richard nodded, grabbed some things out of his suitcase and disappeared into the bathroom.

"You handled that well," Miles said as he started going through the things in his suitcase, searching for his toothbrush.

"Handled what well?"

"You know, Kate and Richard."

"What Kate and Richard?"

Miles abandoned his search and went over to where Sawyer was standing near the window. "Richard finally made peace with his wife's death and he's been alone for a long time, Kate has to be lonely after losing Jack to the island, and you just happily let them go share a room together. Do the math."

Sawyer glared but turned away, sitting on one of the beds. "Ain't my problem."

"Well as long as you're ok with it."

"The woman I loved is dead and gone, so I don't care who Kate screws."

Miles raised an eyebrow but decided not to say anything further on the subject. "I'm going to take a shower. Kate was right about getting some rest, but what are we going to do when Frank gets back?"

"He can have one bed and you and I can share the other bed."

"What?" Miles couldn't believe he had just heard that.

"Unless you'd rather sleep with Frank."

"I'd rather sleep by myself."

"I promise to keep my hands to myself, all right? It's a king size bed, there's enough room."

"Yeah, the thing is...I need my space so I think I'll sit outside for awhile and smoke a few packs of cigarettes while you get some sleep."

"Can we act like adults here? We are just going to sleep, that's all. No parts of our bodies will touch. Now go shower so you can get some sleep and I can take a shower."

"Hey Claire, it's Kate. I'm fine."

"How is everybody?"

"They're all good."

"Where are you?"

"At a motel in some town outside of Los Angeles."

"By yourself, or is Sawyer with you?"

Kate could hear the hint of a tease in Claire's voice and smiled. "Actually, I'm sharing a room with Richard Alpert."

"Richard? Wow, I did not see that coming."

"We're sharing a room out of necessity. I'm not ready to be sharing a motel room with Sawyer. Not yet, and maybe not ever. Besides, Richard's nice."

"Yeah, and I got the impression he'd be pretty harmless. You mind saying a few words to Aaron? He's here pulling on my sleeve."

"I would love to talk to Aaron!"

After a few moments, a little voice on the other end said "Hi Mommy!"

"Hey goober," Kate replied, feeling the tears gather in her eyes. "How are you?"

"Mommy made me french toast."

"I'll bet you liked that."

"I did. I miss you though. You're coming home, right?"

"Yes, I promise that I will be home in just a few days."

"I love you, Mommy."

"I love you too, goober."

The sounds indicated that the phone was being passed back, and then Claire was on the line again. "He misses you, but he's ok."

"I miss him too."

"Why did you go, Kate?"

"I told you..."

"And it didn't sound like they needed your help. Please promise me that you are not planning on going back there."

"I'm not, I swear. I just want to be sure that Sawyer doesn't go back there."

"He just wants to help Hurley. That's not a bad thing."

"I just don't want him to go there and decide that he'd rather stay."

"Because he lost Juliet there."

"Yeah."

"Listen, Sawyer is a big boy and maybe you need to let him make his own decisions."

Kate found herself smiling again. "Yes, Mom."

"I better get Aaron cleaned up. You call me if you need anything, ok?"

"I will."

"Ok. Bye."

"Bye."

After the call ended, Kate sat down in one of the chairs and tried to sort out just why she was there. Claire was right, Sawyer could make his own decisions but for some reason she didn't want him going back to that island. She didn't want anyone going back to that island because Jack died to give them a chance to leave so going back felt like an insult to his memory. That thought upset her so much that she jumped a bit when she heard Richard come out of the bathroom, having forgotten for a moment that he was in the room.

"Is everything all right with Aaron and Claire?"

"Yeah, they're fine." She absently wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before turning to give him a smile as he walked closer in his flannel green shorts. "I just miss him so much."

"You did a good thing, bringing Claire home to her son."

"I know that."

"Then don't feel guilty because you miss having him all to yourself."

"I don't feel guilty about it, I just miss those days. I can't help but wonder how different things could have been. I mean, what if I'd just refused to get on that plane?"

"Then maybe instead of you killing the monster and Jack being able to stop the island from sinking, the monster would have escaped into the world and Aaron wouldn't be safe and sound with Claire right now."

"Maybe."

"You said yourself that you needed some rest; I think things will look different after a few hours of sleep."