So, Sayid's alive. While Jack checks him out, Sawyer snarls to Kate that of course Sayid is fine: He's a former Iraqui torturer, who kills kids and probably cheats at Scrabble, so of course he gets to live. And, by the way, did she notice how many guards there were out there? That thunking sound you hear is anvils.

Soon enough, Jack's examining Sayid's wound (almost completely healed) and Miles is expositing that Hurley's taken on a leadership role, and the temple leader (whose name is Dogen, by the way) says, through his translator, that they'd like to ask Sayid a few questions alone. Jack has a few quesionts he'd like answered first. Dogen's guards start beating up Jack. Luckily for Jack, this is interrupted by Sawyer, who brandishes a gun and announces that he's leaving. "Don't come after me," he snarls. So what does Kate do? Go after him. Why? Why does Kate do anything? What, you're gonna believe her when she says it's so she can bring Sawyer back to the temple? Yeah, you must be new. Kate knows everything there is to know in the world, and she's a drama queen whose independent veneer does nothing to mask her instinct to glom onto men who are emotionally unavailable. She's not going to bring Sawyer back to the temple.

Schlepping through the jungle, Kate asks Aldo, one of the accompanying guards, why they want every one to stay at the temple. "To protect you," he answers, going on to describe the dangers posed by one Smoke Monster. Jin (oh, yeah, he's along for the ride so he can ask this question) breaks in and asks if they know anything about an Ajira flight coming in. The other guard, whose name is Justin and is very happy to have a line, starts to say something about one that landed, and Aldo's all, "Justin, shut up". But Justin's not listening, because he's stopping Kate from triggering a trip line. The guards muse that it looks like one of Rousseau's traps -- but it couldn't be, because she's been dead for years. Indeed, there is something caught in a net in a tree. Anvils, I assume. Kate tries to find out what Justin was going to say, but Aldo starts boo-hooing about how when she staged a prison break a while back (which time?), he was the guard she knocked out with a rifle. This time, she does it with her fist. She grabs weapons for herself and Jin and they continue on their merry way, expositing that Kate is trying to catch up with Sawyer but has no intention of bringing him back, and that Sun was on the Ajira plane and Jin is trying to find her.

Kate finds Sawyer excavating something from under a floorboard of the house he shared with Juliet. She follows him out to the dock, where Sawyer is blaming himself for Juliet's death, since he convinced her to stay because he didn't want to be alone. Weeping prettily (as he does everything), Sawyer muses to Kate, "You understand that, right? I think some of us are meant to be alone." He takes the ring he was going to use when he proposed to Juliet, flings it into the water and tells Kate that she can make it back to the temple by dark. He walks away, and Kate starts crying, but not quite as prettily as Sawyer.

Meanwhile, in a back room at the temple, Dogen's torturing Sayid: Electrodes, hot poker, something with ask. He keeps asking why they're doing this to him, insisting that he doesn't have any secrets to tell them, and, by the way? That hot poker? OW. Eventually, Dogen has the translator tell Sayid that, gosh, sorry, there was a test we had to put you through, but you passed. After they send Sayid out to hang with his friends, the translator confirms with Dogen that, yep, they just lied to Sayid. About the passage, or the existence of a test in the first place? Does it matter?

When Sayid reports what happens, Jack stalks back into the back office, demanding answers. While Dogen pours some stuff into a capsule, the translator patiently explains that they were diagnosing Sayid, and he's got something like an infection. Oh, and Jack has to get Sayid to willingly take the capsule. Jack demands to know what's in it. Rather than tell him, they start making him feel guilty about getting Sayid shot.

Back by the pool, Sayid is assuring Hurley he's not a zombie. (But isn't that exactly the answer you'd expect from a stealth zombie? I'm just sayin'.) Jack wants to speak with Sayid alone, so Hurley and Miles clear out. Jack tells Sayid they want him to take the pill, even though they won't say what's in it. Sayid says he trusts Jack, so if he wants Sayid to take the pill, he'll take the pill.

Next we see Jack, he's storming into the office, wondering why a) Dogen is playing with a baseball, and b) why someone who speaks perfectly good English has a translator. "Because I have to remain separate from the people I'm in charge of. It makes it easier when they don't like the decisions I make for them." Subtext: Boy, Jack, betcha wish you had translator a few time back on the beach, huh? Jack wants to know if Dogen's from here. "I was brought here, like everyone else." Jack starts to pursue this, but Dogen just says, "You know exactly what I mean." And, "You didn't give your friend hte pill, did you?" Jack says no, he didn't, because he doesn't know what's in it. Dogen keeps saying that if Sayid doesn't take it, he'll die, and that Jack should trust him. Finally, Jack just pops the pill into his mouth. Dogen jumps up and hits him until he coughs it out. Finally, he admits that the pill is poison.

Over a friendly cup of tea, Dogen explains to Jack that they believe Sayid's been... um, something in Japanese. The translator says that the closest translation is "claimed". See, there's this darkness growing in him, and once it reaches his heart, everything Sayid was will be gone. Jack wants to know how they can be sure. "Because it happened to your sister." Close-up on Jack as he runs through five seasons of plot to try to recall whether he even has a sister.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle, Aldo and Justin catch up with Jin and demand to know where Kate is. Aldo's all for shooting Jin, Justin's not, and Jin takes advantage of the confusion to run -- and get his foot caught in a trap. Aldo's about to shoot him when he, himself, gets shot, as does Justin. By -- wait for it -- Claire. You know, Jack's half-sister, a fact of which Jack is aware but Claire isn't. Actually, she doesn't seem aware of much of anything. But she is rocking the feral plaid.

Other timeline

Yeah, so Kate bolted, got into a cab that already held Claire, pulled a gun and demanded that the driver drive. Which he does, inasmuch as one can drive out of that part of LAX, which is pretty much an obstacle course of crosswalks and people collecting stuff falling off luggage carts. They get out of the airport, and get caught at a red light. The driver bolts. Kate takes the wheel. Claire wants to get out of the car, and keeps whining until Kate lets her -- but makes her leave her bag behind.

With the aid of a mechanic who's more persuaded by money than guns, Kate loses the handcuffs. She goes through Claire's bag and finds an ultrasound photo, a photo of pregnant Claire, a stuffed killer whale, and, apparently, a shred of her conscience. She jumps back into the cab and drives back to where she left Claire. Claire is still sitting there. And, okay, I'll buy that a pregnant woman stranded in a strange country with no money might want to sit down, but come on: She's maybe a block from LAX. It's not like she's stranded-on-an-island stranded. She's just a little stranded. Come on, Blondie. Buck up.

Anyway, Kate gives Claire back her stuff and offers her a ride. Claire's a bit apprehensive -- Kate has a gun, and until recently had handcuffs -- but takes her up on the offer. (Chick thing.) It turns out Claire's going to the home of the couple that's adopting her baby; they were supposed to meet her at the airport, but, gosh, they must have gotten the dates mixed up. Even Kate's having a hard time swallowing that one. They pull up to the house, and Claire asks Kate to come with her. The door is answered by a sobbing woman. See, her husband left her, and even though she wanted the baby, she can't do it on her own. The woman lives in a big house in Brentwood and is expensively presented, but she can't do it on her own. Right. "My life is just a little complicated," she explains. Kate looks like she's about to wallop the woman -- "She came all the way from Australia, and you don't call?" Welcome to L.A., hon -- when Claire doubles over.

Kate drives Claire to an emergency room, explaining to the nurse who magically meets them that Claire's been having contractions. When she notes the presence of a cop car, she decides to follow Claire. The nurse gets her settled into a room and goes to get a doctor. Who turns out to be Ethan. You remember, Ethan Rohm? Except here, he's Dr. Goodspeed. Ooookay. He checks her out and reports that she's ready to have the baby, but they can stop the process with drugs if she wants. "I don't want to stick you with needles if I don't have to," he cheerfully adds, though he had no problem doing so on the island. Claire wants the drugs. There's a little possible crisis with the baby, but it's all OK. The real purpose is to get Claire to call him Aaron.

While Kate's in the bathroom or hiding in a supply closet or something, a couple of detectives come in asking about the woman who signed her in, and whether she gave any indication where she was headed. Claire says she was just the cab driver. The detectives leave, and Kate thanks Claire for covering her. Claire asks what Kate did. "Would you believe me if I said I was innocent?" Kate responds. Claire would. (*facepalm*) And she hands Kate a credit card for the road. (*faceotherpalm*) Claire mentions that she doesn't know where "Aaron" came from; it's like she knew it or something.

Kate thinks Claire should keep the baby. One gets the feeling that Claire will. Because she's Claire, and Kate's Kate, and a little shift in circumstances doesn't change the characters. It's still 2004 in this timeline. Claire still has three years to vanish and go all Rousseau. Start the clock.

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