Charlie and Hurley are going through Sawyer's stash when Desmond shows up and takes them to Locke and Sayid. As Locke reveals Eko's death in hopes they can help keep the survivors calm at the news, Desmond suddenly sprints into the ocean, where Claire is drowning. He saves her. Charlie is determined to find out why Desmond can suddenly see the future, so he decides to get him drunk and and ask him. Flashback to after Desmond turned the failsafe key, and we see him unconscious on the floor of his and Penny's apartment, confused as to how he got there. Is he dreaming, back in time, or did he dream about being on the island? His life is repeating itself, but he keeps noticing strange things that remind him of the island- including Charlie singing a song on the street in his darker days. He meets an elderly woman who knows a lot about his life, his time on the island and the importance of pushing the button. He wonders if she is just his subconscious or if this woman truly exists. She tells him the universe has a way of "course correction" and he can not change what is supposed to happen. If he changes something it will happen again in another way. Desmond, unconvinced, starts to believe he's getting a second chance to "fix" things, when he is hit on the head with a cricket bat. He awakens back on the island, naked, the moment after the hatch explosion, seeing flashes of the future. He finally reveals to Charlie that he wasn't saving Claire at all, he was saving him. He saw Charlie electrocuted by a lightning bolt, then drowning while trying to save Claire. He tells Charlie that he's prevented his death twice now, but no matter how hard he tries, eventually, Charlie will die, as his fate has been decided.
