A single mom checks out a small, crappy apartment with the manager. She tells him it's just for her and her son -- her husband is out of the picture. Her little eight year-old boy runs in and asks for money for the vending machines. She gives him some, and he runs off. She yells after him -- no running, Miles. That's right -- this little boy is young Miles.
At the vending machine he suddenly stops, listening. He seems scared and confused. He can hear someone calling to him from inside an apartment. He crosses over to the door and puts his hand on it. Then he reaches down and finds a hidden key underneath a garden rabbit statue. But how did he know it was there? He puts the key in the door, unlocks it, and pushes it open --
Lara, his mom, is writing out the deposit check when she hears Miles scream. Lara and the apartment manager run to the other apartment and find Miles inside standing over a dead body. Young Miles says the man was alone and hurting. He kept calling out for Kimberly. The manager says Kimberly was the dead man's wife who died last year. How'd Miles know that? Miles says the dead man told him. Lara is disturbed. What is Miles talking about? Then Miles says the dead man is still talking. Lara steps back, worried and scared. She tells Miles the man is dead, but Miles screams out that he can still hear him!
WHOOSH to Miles in the security station when Sawyer radios in. He asks Miles to accidentally erase the security tape for camera number 4. Miles sees Sawyer and Kate on the monitor and asks what they're doing out there, and Sawyer tells him to just erase the tape. Sawyer is also going off the grid looking for Sayid, better known as their escaped "hostile." Sawyer tells Kate he'll do his best to cover up for them taking young Ben and giving him to the Others, but in the meantime she needs to go back to Juliet and see if anyone knows Ben's missing.
Miles is about to pull the tape for camera 4 when Horace comes in and tasks him to take something out to Radzinsky at grid 334 and pick up a package. Miles hesitates -- that's hostile territory. They're not supposed to be in 334. Horace says Miles is now in the circle of trust. Miles drives out to grid 334 and meets Radzinsky in the jungle. Radzinsky is angry it's Miles and not LaFleur, but Miles assures him he's in the circle of trust. Radzinsky signals his guys and they bring out a dead body, which they put in the body bag that Miles delivered. Miles asks what happened, and Radzinsky says the guy died falling into a ditch. But there's an exit wound in the guy's forehead that looks like he was shot. Radzinsky tells Miles to take the body back to Horace no questions asked. They disappear back into the jungle as Miles gets in the van. He waits until they're gone, then unzips the body bag and asks the guy to tell him what really happened.
WHOOSH to Miles in his punk phase. He visits him mom as she lays dying in her bed. He wants to know before she goes why he can do the things he can do and why she won't talk about his father. Lara says his father never cared about them. He kicked them out when he was just a baby and didn't want anything to do with them. He wants to know where he is, and Lara says he's dead. Miles asks why she didn't tell him, and Lara says because it doesn't matter. He's been dead for a long time. Miles asks where his body is buried, and his mom says someplace he can never go.
WHOOSH to Miles returning with the "package" to Horace. Horace is on the phone with Dr. Pierre Chang, who wants the body brought out to him at the Orchid station. Miles heads back out to the van and discovers that Hurley has checked it out so he can deliver lunch to the construction crew at the Orchid station. He suggests they carpool, which will help global warming... which hasn't happened yet, but maybe they can prevent it. Miles says no, Hurley can wait. But then Hurley realizes something and asks if Miles is on a secret mission. Miles pauses. Hurley is actually on to him. Miles has no choice, and they drive off together.
At the infirmary, Kate returns and tells Juliet they gave young Ben to the Others. Juliet asks if anyone saw them, and Kate says no. Juliet asks if Sawyer helped, and Kate says yes. Then Roger returns from the medical station with the supplies Juliet asked for -- and sees that Ben's bed is empty. Did he... die? Juliet says no, she left him for only ten minutes, and when she came back he was gone. Roger is angry and confused. Ben was dying, how could he just get up and walk out? Juliet's a doctor -- she's supposed to watch him. He yells that he's going to security and storms off. Resigned, Juliet turns to Kate and says, "Well. Here we go."
Miles and Hurley drive in the van to the Orchid station. Hurley is writing in a notebook and asks how to spell "bounty hunter." Miles asks him what he's doing, and Hurley says it's personal. Hurley then smells something bad in the van. He's worried it could be the lunch for the crew, so he asks Miles to pull over. Miles reluctantly does, and Hurley finds the body in the body bag underneath a tarp. Hurley asks what happened to the guy. Miles says the guy's name is Alvarez, and that he was digging a hole and thinking about a chick named Andrea when he felt a sharp pain in his mouth, which turned out to be a filling from his tooth being yanked out of its socket and blowing through his brain. Hurley asks how Miles knows all that, and Miles tells him they have to go. He realizes that Miles can talk to dead people. Hurley says his secret's safe with him. He can talk to dead people, too.
WHOOSH to Miles leaving a house where he had a reading. At his car he's approached by Naomi Dorrit, who tells him her employer has been following his work for some time and is interested in retaining his services. There's a restaurant not too far from there, would Miles like to hear what she has to say? Miles smiles and says absolutely. She takes him to the kitchen of a closed-down restaurant. On a table is a dead body, and Miles says this really isn't his thing. Naomi says it's his audition, and from what she understands, this is exactly his thing. She throws him a wad of cash and asks Miles what he can tell her about the dead man. Miles closes his eyes and concentrates. The man was on his way to deliver some papers and pictures of empty graves to a guy named Widmore. The documents must have been swiped by the guy who shot him. This guy didn't know who it was that shot him, so that means Miles doesn't know either. Naomi tells him she's leading an expedition to an island to find a man that will be very difficult to find. There are a number of deceased individuals killed by the man they're looking for who can give them valuable information as to his whereabouts, and her employer is willing to pay Miles $1.6 million. Miles doesn't hesitate and asks when do they leave?
WHOOSH to the island as Kate sees Roger drinking beer and sitting in a swing. He is clearly getting drunk and far from being okay. She tells him she's sure things will work out. She has a feeling that Ben will be okay. Roger is suddenly suspicious. Does Kate know something about what happened to Ben? Kate realizes she said too much and leaves.
In the van, Hurley asks why Miles won't admit can he talk to dead people. Hurley talks to lots of dead people, and sometimes they even play chess. Miles asks if Hurley actually sees them, and Hurley says of course. Miles says that's not how it works. He says what he does has nothing to do with talking to ghosts. It's a feeling, a sense. Hurley shrugs and says that's how it works for him. They arrive at the Orchid, and Miles tells Hurley to keep quiet.
Chang comes out and is not pleased that Miles brought Hurley along. His instructions were to come alone. Hurley says it's okay, he knows about the body. Chang can't believe it. Hurley promises that he can keep a secret. Chang warns Hurley that if he can't, he'll ship Hurley off to Hydra island to weigh polar bear turds for their ridiculous experiments. Chang orders two guys to take the package inside. Chang follows them inside, chewing out a construction worker along the way. Hurley says that guy is a total douche. Miles sighs and says that douche is his dad. Hurley is surprised. How long has Miles known? Miles says on the third day they were there, his mother got in line behind him at the cafeteria. That was his first clue. Hurley reminds him that all the Dharma people end up dead. Doesn't Miles want to save them? Miles says he can't. Whatever happened, happened. Chang comes out and says he needs Miles to take him to Radzinsky at the Swan station site. Miles asks what happened to the body, and Chang says what body.
As they drive to the Orchid station, Hurley is in full-on matchmaking mode and asks Chang many leading questions. Can Chang talk about what he does with his wife? No, it's classified. With his kids? Chang has a three month-old baby, so no. What's his name? Miles. Small world -- that's Mile's name, too. Miles stares straight ahead, hating what Hurley is doing. Hurley asks if Chang and Miles are tight -- they've been on the island for three years now. Miles says they don't exactly travel in the same circles. Chang didn't realize there were circles. Hurley says well maybe they can all grab a beer some time.
They pull up to a secret gate hidden by jungle foliage, and Chang opens it. Miles drives them down into a construction site. Chang tells them they can leave. He'll get a ride back with Radzinsky. Hurley asks what is this place and why all the secrecy? Miles doesn't care. But then Hurley overhears a guy ask for the serial numbers to put on the hatch. Another guy reads them off: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23... And before he can say the last number, Hurley whispers it. 42. Miles asks Hurley how he knew, and Hurley says because they're building the hatch that crashed his plane.
WHOOSH to Miles leaving a taco stand as a van pulls up besides him. Two guys jump out and drag Miles inside. A man named Bram tells Miles he needs to talk him out of working for Charles Widmore. Bram says Miles isn't ready to go to that island and asks him if he knows what lies in the shadow of the statue? Miles doesn't know what Bram is talking about, and Bram says he's not ready to go. But if Miles goes with Bram, he can find out all the answers he's spent his life trying to find out. Like who he is, why he has a gift... and information about his father. Miles says he only cares about money, and he'll take a pass on going to the island if Bram doubles what Widmore is going to pay him. Miles wants $3.2 million. Bram laughs and says they're not paying Miles anything. They stop and toss Miles out. Bram says Miles is playing for the wrong team. Miles asks what team Bram is on, and Bram says the one that's going to win.
WHOOSH to the island as Miles and Hurley drive back to the barracks. Hurley asks if Miles' dad is around in the future, and Miles says no. Hurley says this is awesome, Miles has a chance to get to know his dad. But Miles doesn't want to know his dad. He wasn't even around when Miles was a kid and didn't care about him. Besides, it doesn't matter. His dad is dead. Hurley says but he's not. They just dropped him off. Miles grabs Hurley's notebook and reads it -- "Exterior Hoth." What? Hurley admits he's writing The Empire Strike Back because George Lucas is going to be looking for a sequel to Star Wars. Miles says that's the stupidest thing he's ever heard, and Hurley says at least he's not afraid to talk to his own dad.
At Sawyer's house, Jack tells Sawyer that Roger thinks Kate had something to do with Ben going missing, but Jack talked to Roger and thinks he's not going to say anything for now. As Jack leaves, Phil walks up. He says he as a lead on who took the kid -- Sawyer did. He holds up the security tape that Miles didn't get a chance to erase. Sawyer says he has a perfectly good explanation for that -- and punches Phil, knocking him out cold. He tells Juliet to get some rope.
At the motor pool, Hurley and Miles check in the van. Hurley admits that he used to hate his dad, too. But after his dad came back, he gave him a second chance and they got to be best friends. He doesn't know if he'll ever see him again, but he misses him. Miles says he never knew his dad and doesn't want to. Hurley says that was Luke's attitude, too. Luke found out that Vader was his father, and instead of talking to him, Luke overreacted and got his hand cut off. They eventually worked it out, but at what price? Another Death Star was destroyed, Boba Fett was eaten by the Sarlacc, and we got the Ewoks. And it all could've been avoided if they just communicated.
Miles crosses through the barracks on his way home and stops -- reacts to what he sees. It's Chang holding a little baby in his lap. Chang is holding baby Miles and reading to him! It's an idyllic father-son moment, and his mom is in the back cooking dinner. Chang is animated, totally into the moment. Miles sees that despite what his mother told him, clearly this man loves his son. Then Chang gets a phone call and gives baby Miles to Lara. Chang hangs up and walks out. Miles walks in the opposite direction, but Chang sees him and says he needs his help. There's a sub with scientists coming in from Ann Arbor.
Miles drives Chang down to the docks, and they help the scientists from headquarters unload. And as Miles is helping the last guy out -- he sees that it's Daniel Faraday returning to the island. Miles is surprised. Faraday smiles and says long time no see.
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