Desmond woke in the hospital later that night feeling groggy and sore. Laying in bed, his shoulder felt strained and slightly numb. Just then Penny, with exhausted looking eyes came in holding back tears.

As he came over, Desmond looked at her and felt his heart swell. He wanted to finally put the madness of the island behind him once and for all.

"I'll never leave you…I love you Penny."

Smiling, Penny leaned in close and kissed Desmond all the while in the back of his mind he thought of Kate.

At that exact moment Kate was dreaming.

Back on the island…or back nearly thirty years ago she was living in a surreal blurry mirror of reality. She was back with her friends, yet ever since they arrived everything seemed to be going wrong. Sayid had shot Ben and ran off into the jungle, and Kate had joined up with Sawyer yet again to help the small boy that would later grow up into a monster.

Tired and out of sorts after returning of the jungle, Kate had no idea whatsoever in what to do next. Somehow everything seemed like a complete nightmare no matter what they did.

Drifting off, Kate had an odd dream.

She was on one of the beaches on the island. One she had never seen before. It was a beautiful evening in which the sky had turned golden and the clouds purple. She was sitting in the sand watching the water when someone had sat down beside her.

Turning, she saw it was Richard.

He gazed at her and Kate said nothing. She knew very little about him, only that he had helped them when they needed it.

"I wouldn't worry…Jack will take care of everything."

Kate looked at him, slightly confused.

"And Desmond?"

"Desmond…well he can take care of himself. After all…he did make his choice…and you made yours…didn't you?"

Kate suddenly felt very uneasy before Richard slipped his hand into hers, holding it tight. The intense darkness of his eyes locking with her scared brown ones.

"Kate…no matter what you do, nothing with change…this is your destiny."

Before she could say anything else he was kissing her.

Snapping awake at that exact moment, Kate heard gunshots in the distance.

Gasping out of breath, her eyes looked around before she remembered her dream right away, and Richard's kiss.

What did he mean she made her choice?

Feeling extremely uneasy, Kate got up and followed the sound of the shots.