OFF THE ISLAND

As the episode opens, Desmond is running like a madman through some fishing village in Asia looking for a doctor.

He begs him to come back to his boat, where Penny is in labor. She gives birth to a boy, later revealed to be named Charlie.

Years later, Desmond, Penny and little Charlie are on the boat heading back to a special island ... Britain. Desmond is on the hunt for Daniel Faraday's mother.

Desmond promises Penny he’ll be out of England in one day, before Charles Widmore can know he was there, and he’ll NEVER go back to the Island.

Only Oxford has no record of any Daniel Faraday. Puzzling.

Desmond breaks into to the musty, dark lab where they met back in 1996 and sees the rat maze.

A custodian arrives and is pissed. He tells Desmond he'll forget he saw him, if he'll tell whoever he's working for he found nothing, and quit asking about Faraday.

As for why Oxford denies any record of him, the man says, "Can you blame them? Especially after what he'd done to that girl..."

That girl was Teresa Spencer.

Desmond tracks her down, but is greeted by her sister Abigail. Teresa is in a vegetative state, presumably caused by Daniel’s experiments, though it is not stated specifically.

After whatever happened to Teresa happened, Daniel Faraday fled to the U.S. (we first saw him in Essex, Massachusetts last season). Abigail notes that "Mr. Widmore," who was funding Daniel's research, is funding Teresa's care.

Desmond heads for Widmore’s office and demands to know where Faraday’s mom is. Widmore tells Desmond that she's in L.A. and gives him the address.

As Des is getting ready to bolt, Charles says to deliver whatever message he has and then leave, because this has nothing to do with him, or Penny.

Desmond returns to the boat and tells Penny that Faraday's mom died. She knows immediately that he's lying.

He tells her the truth, but says he's done with all this, that all he cares about is her.

Penny doesn’t believe that Desmond can ever forget or leave the Island or its consequences behind, so she decides they're going to Los Angeles.

ON THE ISLAND

On the island, Miles, Charlotte and Faraday make their way to the creek, but Charlotte is hampered by headaches and double vision. Miles notices a trip wire and tells everyone not to move, but it's too late.

Land mines are triggered and the soldiers corner them. Miles is told that the soldiers didn't put the mines by the creek, "his people" did. Hmm.

On their way back to the soldiers' base, Miles senses that they walked over fresh graves of four U.S. soldiers who died from shooting and radiation.

Meanwhile, Locke, Sawyer and Juliet are debating what to do with their two hostages. The two speak Latin to each another, which Juliet can translate - the men are wondering why these strangers aren't in uniform.

Juliet speaks Latin for the same reason they do: they're Others.

Faraday and Co. are brought back to the Others' camp where they meet Richard Alpert, once again seemingly ageless. He asks if Faraday has come back for his bomb. Faraday deduces that they're somewhere around the 1950s and that the U.S. military was testing H-bombs in the South Pacific.

Daniel offers to disarm the bomb. Richard worries he'll just detonate it, but Faraday earns his trust by saying he's in love with Charlotte and would never do anything to hurt her.

Richard agrees but explains that he had no choice but to kill the U.S. soldiers who were in his jungle because he was given orders to. Chain of command and all.

Juliet tries to convince the soldiers in Latin that they’re friends and they just want to meet Richard. One of their captives starts to tell them where the camp is, but the other snaps his friend’s neck and runs away. Locke refuses to shoot him “because he's one of my people.”

Locke tracks him to the camp, however, and decides to finish his conversation with Richard about how to save the Island. Sawyer and Juliet run off to save Faraday.

Faraday gets to the H-bomb, which was given the name Jughead. In the early days of atomic weapons they were often named, with the monikers written on the side.

He notices a crack and tells Ellie they need to fill it with lead or concrete and bury it and if they do, everything will be fine.

She is highly skeptical, so he says he knows for sure because the Island is still there 50 years later. Ellie becomes even angrier, but Sawyer and Juliet show up and corner her, taking her gun.

Locke barges into camp asking for Richard. One of the men, with the name Jones on his uniform - the one who got away from Locke & Co. - pulls a gun.

Richard doesn’t recognize Locke, but when he says, “Jacob sent me,” Richard tells "Jones" to put his gun down, only he calls him “Widmore.” Yes, he is Charles Widmore. Locke smugly says it’s nice to meet him.

Locke tries to convince Richard that he is from the future, but he is a bit skeptical to say the least. Locke does find out it’s 1954, so he tells Richard that on May 30, 1956, he will be born, and Richard should come visit...

[Cue time-traveling, blinding flash of light!]

Cut to Charlotte, Miles and Daniel, alone, at an undetermined point in the future ... or the past, for all we know. Charlotte collapses to the ground as blood pours out of her nose.

BONG!