Sawyer laid still on a carpet of dust that layered the wooded floor, his blanket rolled up like a pillow under his head. He stared up at the ceiling and watched a bug crawl lazily across the dim ceiling lamp above. Sawyer thought it was some sort of beetle, but he couldn't be sure. The lamp flickered and dimmed; Sawyer had it timed to seven second intervals.

One...Two...Three...Four...Five...Six...Seven. The room went dark momentarily and three seconds later brightened again. The bug was gone now, probably crawling on someone's head. It was cold, since no one had cared to tend the fire, and Sawyer felt too lazy to do it now. Sawyer sighed and stretched before standing and walking to the fireplace. He put in new logs, all pointing to the center like spokes the way Desmond had showed him. He lit the wood, and the room illuminated, washing the walls with a glowing light.

Sawyer looked around the sparse room. Kate was huddled in one of the armchairs, using the doc's jacket as a blanket. Claire was curled up on the couch, muttering and frowning in her sleep. Sawyer reached over and covered her with his blanket even though she already had one. He didn't need it anyway. Penny's head was rested on Desmond's shoulder. Ben and Hugo were nowhere to be seen; they had wandered off to talk.

"So, Jim," Horace began, "Radsinky's found another pocket, we're going to need you to close that area off." He pointed to an area on the map near to the beach. Sawyer leant over the table to get a closer look, and his heart slid like a brick into his stomach. He knew immediately where the Initiative wanted to drill- the future location of the Swan hatch.

"Uh, I don't mean to be Captain Obvious here, but isn't that hostile territory?" Sawyer ventured. It wasn't true. As soon as they'd been recruited, Sawyer had tried everything to make sure he could live out a long life with these people. With Miles's help, he'd conned the Initiative into thinking that the zone was crawling with hostiles. Sawyer had thought that it would be enough, obviously he'd been wrong.

"That's what you're here for, Jim." Horace declared. Sawyer sighed in exasperation. Suddenly the Dharma Security station felt more cold and empty than usual. This drilling, Sawyer knew, would lead to radiation that would kill pregnant women.

"I'm just sayin' that-" Sawyer trailed off, unable to think of anything to convince Horace against making the biggest mistake of his life. "Look, that area is full of Hostiles. Miles barely made it out of there!"

Horace looked Sawyer in the eyes, regarding him. "I placed my faith in you, Lafleur. Radzinsky didn't think I should, but I made you head of security after only a year of being here, I gave you a a house, I took your friends in. Don't screw this up. One wrong step, and Radzinsky will have you on the sub."

"Sure thing, Boss" Sawyer relented, gruffly. If they wanted to ruin what they had, they could do what they want. Sawyer already had a plan in place to buy Microsoft if he was carted off in the sub.

"Let's talk about something else." Horace said. Sawyer knew the argument was over, and he was glad for it. It had taken too much effort to rise in the ranks here, and he was about to mess it up know.

"So," Horace ventured, "Have you asked out Juliet yet?"

"What? No! I'm not- She isn't- Is it that obvious?" Sawyer exclaimed. Horace chuckled to himself.

"Of course it's obvious Jim. Besides Amy tells me that Juliet likes you too." Horace's tone was casual, but Sawyer wondered if he was just trying to make fun of him. Before Sawyer find out what Horace meant by, 'Juliet likes you too,' Miles voices came over the Walkie.

Sawyer reached for his belt. His hand found the Walkie immediately and he raised it to eye level. Not a day went by that Sawyer didn't wish for a cell phone instead.

"Hey boss, you there?" Miles questioned, "Boss?"

"I'm here Miles, what'd you want?"

"Check out monitor three."

Sawyer walked across the room to security monitors and looked where Miles had told him. Horace came up right behind him, so Sawyer hoped it wasn't something terrible.

"What in the?" Horace thought aloud. Sawyer couldn't believe what he was seeing, himself. Little Ben was at the fence, in the middle of the night, staring at the jungle. What was he up too? Sawyer watched as he dropped to his knees and began to shake uncontrollably. Sawyer saw Miles run up to Ben and try to help him up.

"Is he sleepwalking or something?" Horace wondered. Sawyer pulled out his Walkie.

"Hey Miles! What's Rogers's kid doin' there?" Miles turned to face to the security camera after a failed attempt to move Ben and shrugged. Miles pulled out his own Walkie and said, "He keeps saying, 'they changed it', whatever that means." Miles added with tinge of annoyance in his voice.

"Just get him out of there Miles, before Roger gets home." Sawyer ordered.

"Sure thing, boss" Miles responded with a sarcastic tone that suggested he'd been trying to do that for a while now. Sawyer turned away from the monitors to face Horace. Horace's face was pale with shock.

"There's something wrong with that boy" he whispered. Sawyer didn't object; he knew what Ben would become, how he would sacrifice everything for the island. Sawyer remembered Ben saying that he'd been born on the island. He'd laughed, knowing that Ben had only come here a short while ago.

Sawyer became anxious thinking about what Ben was up to now. He figured that he didn't have anything better to do, and slipped out the front door. There was nobody in sight, but he could hear voices a little further in. The moonlight cast long shadows on the ground, making Sawyer see people that weren't there. Sawyer reached instinctively at his hip for a gun that wasn't there. He followed the sound of the voices, growing louder with each footstep. Finally, he could see Hurley and Ben talking in a clearing. Sawyer leapt behind a tree and listened.

"No, dude. You heard what he said. We can't tell her."

"If you say so" came Ben's snide voice. It was strange, hearing Ben defer to someone's judgement. A noise off to the right caused both of them to turn. "You can't be here. You'll give yourself away" Ben said incredulously.

"Hugo invited me." came a familiar voice. Sawyer could barely believe it. It couldn't be.

"You'll ruin the plan." Ben's voice rang out.

"I'm part of the plan Benjamin." the voice responded. Whoever it was said Ben's name with contempt, like it was painful to say. Sawyer stepped back and snapped a twig. The voices stopped, and then began whispering anxiously. Sawyer did the only thing he could. He walked into the clearing.

"How's it going' boys?"

"Dude. We're you like, listening to us?" Hurley asked, astonished.

"Not for that long hoss, don't worry." Sawyer joked. Sawyer turned to see who the third person was, but they'd gone.

"Who was here with you?" Sawyer asked, not even trying to mask his suspicion of the two.

"No one was here Dude." Hurley informed him. He shifted his eyes to the floor guiltily.

"Fine, don't tell me." Sawyer snapped back.

"Good, he won't" said Ben. Sawyer glared at him. Ben was smirking to himself.

"Uh, dude. There's someone here for you." Hurley said.

"Yeah, and who would that be?" Sawyer said, throwing his hands in the air with frustration.

"Juliet." Sawyer's heart sank to the floor.

"What does she want?" He said in a barely audible voice.

"She's right next to you. She say's that she still has your back."

"You still got my back?"Sawyer asked Juliet before charging at the others.

"Absolutely."

"She says Charlie's been fading in and out. That...that he's gonna die soon." Hurley choked out.

"She...she says I loves you James. And I would have said yes. I saw you talking to Kate at the docks. I would have said yes."

"Tell her that I love her too." Sawyer said quietly.

"She heard you dude." Sawyer turned abruptly and walked away. He marched right through the trees, not caring to be quiet. He left Hugo standing there with an uncomfortable expression on his face. Sawyer didn't care. He refused to let Ben see him cry.

"James? Are you alright?" Juliet asked.

"Fine." Sawyer said gruffly. He stared at a crack in the bench, not looking up.

"No you're not." Juliet decided. She sat next to him, but didn't say anything. Sawyer sat in silence for a while. He'd been so busy dealing with Ben, he hadn't realized what day it was.

"My parents died." He whispered, "Today. They're gone again." Juliet didn't say she was sorry. She didn't pretend to understand. She just stayed with him, which he was grateful for even if he couldn't show it.

"It's alright you know, to cry." Juliet whispered. Sawyer couldn't help himself. He broke down, right then and there. Juliet helped him through it, and ever since, there was no question of them being together. They didn't need to announce it, or feel unsure, it was just there.

Sawyer marched back to the cabin, slowing his pace so he wouldn't alarm anyone. The cabin lights were on, and it was surrounded by men with guns. Sawyer ran for the back, covering his head with his hands. Either the men were so surprised that they waited too long to fire, or they had orders not to. Having no door, he jumped through a slightly broken window on the side.

As he stood up, he took in the scene. Desmond was bent over Penny, who seemed unconscious. It seemed like a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Kate and Claire were at the window, firing back. Desmond pointed to the table, not taking his eyes from Penny, and Sawyer armed himself from a pile guns. Sawyer ran to Desmond and tossed him a gun.

"Desmond we need your help." Desmond kissed Penny on the forehead and crept to the window. The other side stopped firing. Sawyer looked to the others for an explanation. They looked just as shocked as he was. Claire was glaring out the window, and Sawyer was scared to see that she seemed completely emotionless. Kate's hand were covered in blood, but she didn't seem to be bleeding.

Hurley and Ben came crashing into the room.
"They found us." Ben informed them.

"Yeah, we can see that," Sawyer snapped, "How did you get in here?"

"We created a diversion."

"Uh-huh. Ben, take Claire's gun from her and her place at the window." Sawyer ordered.

"What?!" Claire shrieked

"You're too involved. Help Penny." Claire thrust her gun into Ben arms and sat near Penny. Sawyer was relieved to see that she looked human again. An explosion from far away rattled the windows.

"What was that?" Desmond yelled.

"That, would be the diversion." Ben said, offering no further explanation, "Let's leave while we can." They all got up. Desmond helped Penny to walk. The shot was through-and-through, but she was still tired. Voices came yelling, closer to the cabin. They all ran.

They ran through the trees as fast as they could. Sawyer brought up the rear, while Ben was in front. Voices as close as a few feet behind them shouted excitedly. They made it to the van and piled in.

Hurley sat in the driver's seat, ready to start it up. It stalled.

"Hurry up!" Kate yelled. The van roared to life and they sped away down the road.

"They could still be following us." Ben warned them all. His face showed that he had expected this from the start and already had a plan.

"But why?" Claire wondered. Hurley was silent at the wheel, but Ben jumped at the chance to answer.

"Why?" Ben pretended to ponder the question, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's because that island is the source of the highest concentration of electromagnetic energy in the world with the power to cure cancer, send people back in time, bring a person back from the brink of death, and make someone with an absolutely crushed spine walk again. Just a guess."

No one said anything in argument. Sawyer sat next to Kate, studying her from any injury. She turned to him and smiled. He remembered that day on the dock he always wondered and now he knew, Juliet would've said yes.

Images flashed through his mind, the memories he had of Juliet burned into his mind, he was to afraid to forget.

"The sub is leaving tomorrow," Juliet said as they ate pasta. Juliet had been trying to teach him to cook and it hadn't been going to well. He got better though. His stomach turned at the idea of her leaving him, he'd known about the sub but selfishly didn't say anything. She watched him with her blue eyes, waiting for him to talk. After a long silence, she smiled. "Don't worry James, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving you."