Kate looked out the window. They were getting further and further away from the island. Soon she wouldn't be able to see it at all. She knew she should feel excited to be leaving the island, but all she could think about was Jack. She knew he was dying, if not already dead. Kate no longer felt like she was leaving the island, she felt like she was leaving him. She would never see him again. She raised a hand to the cold glass and began to sob. Claire squeezed her hand and shot her a reassuring smile. Kate smiled back through her tears. She knew she couldn't think about him, at least not yet. He had been brave and sacrificed himself for them. She knew he wouldn't want her to spend her time crying over him. She wiped her tears away and ran a hand over her shoulder where Jack had stitched her up, like she had done for him three years ago.

"Kate?" Claire asked.

"Yeah," Kate responded, her voice was still thick with tears.

"Could you maybe tell me about Aaron?"

"Of course," Kate responded with a smile. "He is the sweetest little boy you've ever met and he gives the best hugs in the entire world. But he's also very sneaky. The little goober knows how to work those big blue eyes and that Shepherd charm."

Claire smiled. She was glad that her son had had a relationship with his uncle in his early years.

"He's smart too. We used to read to him every night, and he can read some of the words himself. He can count to twenty, even though he tells people he can count to a hundred. His favorite color's blue, such a typical boy, I know. His favorite stuffed animal is a stuffed killer whale. And he watches way too much TV."

"He sounds wonderful," Claire responded with a smile.

"He is," Kate said softly.

"Kate, I just want to be clear. I want you to be a part of Aaron's life. You raised him for three years and I can never repay you for that. Besides, all of us are a strange kind of family now. We have to stick together."

"Live together, die alone," Kate said softly, echoing the words Jack had spoken years ago.

Claire grinned as Lapidus's voice came over the loudspeaker.

"This is your captain speaking. We have cleared the island and should be making our descent into LAX in about four hours. I should be able to get in touch with ground control to get clearance to land. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the flight." They could all hear the triumph in his voice.

Kate stood, knowing what they had to do. As she began to take charge, she almost felt as though Jack was with her.

"We have to lie." She said.

"What the hell are you talking about Freckles?" James asked, standing up.

"We lied the first time we got rescued. The 'Oceanic Six' were supposed to be the only ones who survived, the remains of a plane was found and they thought it was ours. We went along with it to protect all of you. Now three of us are dead, and we'll probably never see Hurley again."

"So what do we do?" Miles asked.

"We say that it was a coincidence that all of the six, except Aaron, of course, were on the same flight. This flight crashed on the island and only a few of us survived, but they eventually all died except Lapidus and I. We eventually came across you and Sawyer. You guys had been living on the island since the crash. We somehow got separated. You formed a camp and were living with Miles, who got there with a science team, all of your other team members died. And Richard…" Kate paused, looking at the man.

"Never existed," Richard said slowly.

"Come on man, there has to be a way." Miles responded.

"How are we supposed to explain that I'm nearly 200 years old? We have to protect the island. No immortality, no smoke monsters, we can't mention any of that. When we get to LA, I'll sneak away. I never existed and it has to stay that way." Richard said definitively.

The others nodded in understanding and sat back into their seats. No one could ever know what really happened on that island. No one could ever begin to imagine what happened to them.