A few days later Kate made her choice.
She was going to leave the island. She knew the truth, she knew there was nothing waiting for her when she returned, but she couldn't stay here any longer…
Not anymore.
Kate, Jack, Hugo, Sayid, and Swayer all loaded up on the chopper as Frank took them away. Kate sat back feeling relief and happiness rush through her body. They had made it…they were going to escape.
All she had heard from Sayid was that Desmond and him had been on the ship this entire time. They weren't working for Penny and he knew the military they had just killed were hired by Penny's father for so reason to find the island. But none of that mattered to Kate, sitting there she watched as they left the island behind.
She didn't care anymore.
Her heart was broken…but she felt free.
That's when Sawyer jumped, whispering something in her ear.
Once they landed on the ship they knew something was wrong. Kate tried to find Jin but there was panic as everyone screamed and began running in different directions. She knew there was no time and searched for him. That's when Desmond came out running.
"There's a bloody bomb we need to go!"
"But Jin!"
Desmond forcefully took her arm and began running with her to the deck. All this time had past and they hadn't said a word to each other. Desmond himself had been though enough. He had seen people die in cold blood on this ship, and knew Penny's father was behind it.
Yet as strange as things had been, he had been able to speak with her. Just for a few brief moments.
She had saved him…she still loved him.
That had been what was pushing him along this entire time, to survive.
But now at that exact moment none of that mattered. He ran with Kate until they hit the deck, the blinding sun shinning down on them. They jumped on the chopper as it began to lift off. Sun was struggling and fighting to get off.
Moments after they lifted up in the air the explosion happened. Sun's screams were all they could hear.
Kate sat back, holding the baby. Only a few of them had made it onboard. Everyone else was dead. Desmond sat across from her, their eyes meeting for just a second.
That's when the blinding light came.
Seconds later it was gone.
The chopper just flew over empty ocean. It was impossible. That's when Frank began to yell that the fuel was leaking fast and that they were going down. Sayid took the safety raft and threw it out. Moments later it began to speed down towards the water. Kate was terrified. Seconds ago she watched the ship explode with most of her friends on it.
The island had disappeared…and now they were going to die. Everyone began to scream as Desmond grabbed onto Kate's hand as she held the baby. Kate cried out before the water hit them.
Everything went to darkness after that.
Kate resurfaced coughing and fighting to stay above the water. The baby screamed in her arms and fought to be let go. Kate couldn't believe he was all right. Pieces of the plane floated in the water. She heard splashing and yelling as Jack helped her on the raft. Rolling over, she held the baby as he screamed. That's when her scared eyes searched for Desmond and couldn't find him.
"Where's Desmond!"
Kate screamed.
That's when Jack swam over with Desmond and had the others help pull him up on the raft. Desmond laid there soaking wet and not moving.
"Desmond!"
She was terrified. What if he was dead? Jack began doing CPR as Kate held onto the baby. That's when he coughed and turned over. At that exact moment Kate wanted to wrap her arms around him tightly and tell him the truth.
Instead she watched as he coughed up more water and sat up. His arm was bleeding. Everyone sat there in shock and silence as the raft floated in the empty never ending sea. Desmond looked across at Kate who was now getting the baby to settle down. She kissed the baby's head.
"He okay?"
Kate looked up and slightly nodded.
Desmond kept looking at her.
"You all right?"
Kate nodded again.
"You?"
"Fine…you sure?"
Kate shook her head before sitting beside Frank and Sun. Resting her head on Sun's shoulder she comforted her as she cried.
Desmond meanwhile sat back and watched.
Two hours later the sun went down.
Sitting there as Hugo proved a point about the island being moved by Jack, everyone else sat silently as the moonlight washed over them. Kate sat back holding the baby, trying her hardest to keep it warm. Thinking over the last forty-eight hours her entire mind seemed to start spinning. So much had happened in such a short space of time. It all started with them thinking they were getting rescued. The explosions, the fire, the others getting killed. Kate thought back to Charlie's and Locke's warnings. Choosing sides. Kate thought of how empty she felt knowing that Desmond still did indeed have feelings for his long lost love Penny. At first this all started when she learned that perhaps Penny was looking for Desmond after all this time. That the chopper and boat off shore was from her as well. Finally they would all be rescued by this woman she only knew by a simple photograph. A woman who stole the one thing that seemed right in this crazy life of hers since she crashed here. Her last bit of hope and happiness.
She knew he still loved her.
But when Charlie's warnings happened and they choose sides, Kate thought for just a second Desmond would come to his senses. She knew he had wanted to speak with her, but since she asked him in the jungle…she knew the truth right away. In fact ever since she started falling in love with him a part of her always felt uneasy. A part in the back of her mind that always reminded her that Desmond really loved Penny…that it was just a fling with her and if he had a chance to see her again he would leave Kate in a second. Somehow Kate always feared she was just used in a way to forget about her…numb the pain.
Since the miscarriage Kate worried that was the truth. After Desmond wouldn't answer her when she asked if he still loved Penny, she knew right away by looking in his eyes.
She hoped he might fear that the chopper and people being sent to the island were out to harm them. That Penny had nothing to do with the rescue. She hoped for just a second he would go to her and join her. Instead he simply walked away towards the beach…not choosing a side at all.
Kate thought that's how it would be. She would spent the last few months if they did indeed survive this on the island. Her and Sawyer would be together and she would pretend none of this mattered. She would try to be happy before she died.
Then forgotten.
She prayed everyone wasn't harmed and deep down inside wished it was a rescue and they weren't meaning to harm them. That there was hope for everyone to finally leave this strange and horrible place they had been stuck on for nearly five months.
She hoped Desmond did get saved along the others, along with Jack. She hoped Penny was there to meet them and the two would fall in love and forget about this horrible place that tore them apart. She hoped Desmond wouldn't feel guilty about how things were left between the two of them. She hoped he wouldn't remember her as the girl who miscarried his child just months after knowing each other.
She hoped everyone else would be okay, yet she would be forgotten.
Things would be better that way.
But now after everything that happened, after everything she had seen…she knew it was fate that she was escaped the island and left. Part of her heart ached worrying about Sawyer. He was still such a mystery to her and his words that he whispered before he jumped kept repeating in her mind over and over again. She hoped he was okay.
In fact everyone on the island…most of all Claire, she hoped they were safe.
She looked over at Sun's blank emotionless face.
She's pregnant…
She thought and then remembered Jin. She felt horrible and guilty about what had happened. Now…maybe they might just die out here after everything that had happened.
She thought about herself and how she had made it. Sitting there she looked at Desmond. He sat back, his hair still drying from the water, His eyes blank and staring down at the bottom of the raft. His eyes…worried. Kate sat there watching them, thinking of what she was gonna do. She had no idea that this entire time he was on the boat, suffering strange and awful flashes. Falling further and further down this dark hole he entered when he first arrived on this island. Stranger then what had happened after he turned the key.
He has seen so many people die, yet see hope.
He thought of Penny…
Of her voice Christmas eve. On her beautiful voice that had saved him a second time.
He remembered how both said they loved each other before the line went dead
Suddenly he remembered what had gotten him through those three long wasted years. How he had left her to regain his honor yet harmed her and made so many more mistakes like his past. He thought of her letter, and of her beautiful face. Still after all this time he remembered every inch of it.
His soul mate…
She had waited all this time, still searching. She had never given up.
Then he looked up at Kate, who's eyes dropped quickly as she rubbed the baby's back. Sighing so many emotions hit him at once. A lot had happened, and up until he made that phone call to Penny on Christmas eve…be had been tossing the hardest choice he would ever have to make in his life.
Between Penny and Kate.
He loved both women so much, yet differently.
Kate had been a stranger, another lost soul on the island. Misunderstood and beautiful. He saw kindness in her eyes as both began to seek comfort into each other. He really thought he could never escape the island and thought for sure that he would die on it.
He thought of the miscarriage and how worried he had been. Never before in his entire life did his heart hurt so bad. He had not only lost a child…a child who now he believed he wanted more then anything. A child that after knowing of it's life after it had died crushed him. He remembered blaming himself for not doing anything, seeing Kate's pale drained face and knowing he wanted to love and protect her no matter what.
But she had asked him and known…
He never felt so guilty and torn before in his life. On the island, confused and scared he really had thought it over before things started happening.
If it was in fact not Penny's boat…would he stay with Kate?
He loved her, yet after hearing Penny's words he knew he could never leave her.
He felt terrible.
He had hurt Kate, and left her alone.
That's when they saw the boat and Jack told them with serious eyes that they would have to lie. Moments later he heard voices and then Penny's name.
"Did you say Penny?"
Desmond jumped up. Kate held in all her strength to not cry. Instead she held the baby tighter.
"Desmond!"
She heard her voice. Seconds later he was rushing onboard to see her. Kate watched and knew now…he was forever lost to her now. He loved Penny…she would be left behind.
Jack noticed the hurt look in Kate's eyes and squeezed her hand. Kate looked up with thankful eyes as Jack helped her and the baby on board.
She saw Desmond and her standing together. His arm around her and tears of joy in her eyes.
Kate's heart broke as Jack guided her. Desmond seemed so excited, so alive.
Penny said hello to everyone, but Desmond's eyes seemed serious when he said Kate's name. Everyone glanced at each other as Kate stiffly hugged Penny with the baby in her arms. Standing back Desmond introduced Jack who stepped forward. Desmond watched as Kate walked over to Sun and faced the other way.
It was the moment all of them had dreamed about for so long.
Yet now…it seemed different, hopeless and scary.
Everyone was brought inside and given warm clothes. Kate stuck close with Sun who seemed to be in a dazed state of shock. They changed the baby together and wrapped him in warm clothes. Kate moved slowly and tried not to think. She kept going back to Sawyer's words, and about the island…
Her she was with the baby…
And Claire?
She didn't know.
Dinner was served but Sun and Kate skipped it. Instead they sat on the deck watching the moonlight. The baby had been given some milk and put to bed. Hugo was watching him as everyone else talked downstairs.
Kate didn't thinks she could stand one minute watching the two of them together. Instead she stayed outside, looking out at the dark water with Sun.
That's when she heard him.
"Kate?"
Turning, Kate saw Desmond on the deck. His blue shirt still on, his hands shoved in his pockets. His eyes seemed serious and worried.
"Can I speak with you alone?"
Kate and Sun exchanged looks before Sun got up.
"I'm going down to check on the baby…"
Moments later they were left alone. Kate sat there looking at him as he walked over.
"Kate…"
"Desmond don't…go back downstairs, you deserve to be happy."
"Kate please…I can't tell you how badly I feel about this…I've dreamed about this day for three long years…even more since the two of us were apart for so long, I made so many bloody mistakes, and I've been trapped there this entire time."
Kate held back her tears.
"I know…"
"No you don't…Kate I never wanted to hurt you. I do love you…but…"
"But Penny…"
Kate's words drifted off before she tried to look down at her hands for a second. She saw they were slightly shaking.
"It's okay Desmond…we shared something special but that was there…we have our own life's now…yours is with Penny and I'm happy for you."
Desmond looked at her.
"You don't mean that."
"I'm trying…let's just leave that at that."
She stood, looking now right in his eyes. Right when she was tempted to tell him, yet knew she needed to give him a clean break. None of this mattered anymore.
She gently touched the side of his face, against his beard.
"Life your life Desmond…life it."
That's when she walked past him, hurrying her way down the deck to Jack.
She barley spoke to him the rest of the time. There they sailed around as she kept her distance. She was nice to Penny and saw what a kind woman she was…but she couldn't stand to see the two of them together. It hurt her heart too much. So she stayed with Jack, right beside him and focused on the baby.
Finally they made a choice.
They would lie.
Setting up the raft, everyone got ready to finally take off. Kate locked eyes with Desmond for a second before he stepped over. Reaching over he gently touched the baby's head before looking at Kate.
That's when he softly said.
"I love you Kate."
Kate looked at him before glancing over his shoulder at Penny who was saying goodbye to Hugo and Sayid. Sighing she clutched onto the baby tighter before looking at him.
"Goodbye Desmond…"
She quickly turned and got onto the boat. There she watched as they began to row away Desmond standing with Penny watching them go.
Kate saw him looking at her, his face unhappy.
Instead, Kate turned and faced forward to her now unknown future.