Three years later

Kate couldn't believe what she was doing. Sitting there on the plane, she nervously clutched her hands together while eyeing her friends. Were they insane? Thinking back on the past three years her heart ached. It seemed as though nothing had been the same since they left the island. Looking back, she had completely mixed feelings on the events that had happened. Somehow, sitting here right now…she felt as though time was slowing down.

All those years of running, all those years of feeling scared and hunted. Then she crashed there, that strange yet beautiful place that brought pleasure and pain. So much death had happened it seemed blurred. Sitting there she looked back at all the heartache and why she had left the island in the first place.

She needed to save herself and her baby.

Opening up her purse, she dug inside and brought out her wallet. Underneath the small light above her seat, she opened it up and looked at the photograph she had inside.

It was taken of her and Aaron, and Sydney.

Her daughter…

Lightly her fingertips danced across the photograph. In it she was laughing and sitting on her front lawn. Aaron and Sydney both in her arms. Looking at their tiny faces, she prayed she was doing the right thing.

When she had left the island, it became clear that she needed to escape. Her short, yet brief affair with Desmond was shattered the moment she saw the truth in his eyes.

He still loved Penny.

Thinking back at the miscarriage, she tried her hardest to pretend it was a sign. That it was fate showing her that they just didn't belong together. Thinking back at their time together seemed so long ago. She had discovered she was pregnant shortly before everything had happened. After briefly speaking with Juliet she understood the dangers of what would happen if she did stay.

In fact it might have had something to do with why she lost the first baby.

Thinking of her unknown future back home, she decided to risk it all just to protect her unborn baby. The entire time she didn't speak a word of this to Desmond. She knew by right he needed to know…but she didn't want that to be some excuse for him to stay.

So she left, and like the others she lied.

Taking Aaron, she only hoped she would be able to do this. Only a few months after learning the truth she was set free and able to live a normal happy life. Jack was uneasy to enter her life again because of Aaron, but within time he came around and for a short period of time, things seemed okay.

Then…

She told him about the pregnancy.

He seemed distant and began lashing out. Within her fifth month he had left and she was alone.

But she was free.

Free of the guilt and fear. She promised herself that she would build a normal stable healthy life for Aaron and her unborn baby. That even though it was just her…that she would be able to fend for herself like she always did. Mostly at night she had dreams of the island. Dreams of Clair, dreams of the miscarriage…and dreams of Desmond. Some night she would hike herself up in bed and stare out her window at the full moon in the sky. Always wondering in the back of her mind if Desmond was happy.

She hadn't heard from him in all this time. In fact…she hoped she never would. She wished he was happy, with Penny and finally finding peace in life. Looking at her stomach as it grew each day, she kept thinking about what she would tell this child once it grew up. What would she say about it's father?

That he was a good man who died before she gave birth. That he would of loved this baby more then anything in the world. That she just wanted him to be happy and free like her.

It was tough and lonely, but she had Aaron and slowly found ways to move on.

Finally she gave birth late one night at the general hospital. The doctor and nurses claimed she had called out the name "Desmond" during the labor. At the end of all the clouded pain, she laid there completely drained and holding her tiny little baby. Tears in her eyes she looked down at what Desmond and her had made and smiled before kissing it's little hand.

"Hello darling."

Sydney was a good baby, and as hard as it was having two young ones she got along fine. Jack came around once and again but slowly they grew apart. Hurley came by once before he was sent to the hospital and even commented on how much the baby looked like Desmond. Smiling, Kate remembered rocking the sleeping baby back and forth before Hurley asked…

"Does he know?"

Kate brushed her bangs out of her face before shaking her head.

"No…and he never will. I want him to live his life with Penny."

And so she raised her two children, happy and with little regret.

When John came, telling her about the island Sydney and Aaron were upstairs having their nap. Kate replied no…she had no reason to go back.

Sydney got Kate's eyes and Desmond hair. She was a cute chubby little baby that Aaron adored. Her life seemed perfectly happy before Jack came to see her one last time.

Now here she was, going to return.

Sydney and Aaron were with Sun's mother. She prayed they were safe.

Kissing the photograph she took a deep breath before the plane began to shake.