[Cut to shot of Ben sleeping in bed. Something awakens him but he doesn't see anything. He raises his electric bed to a more upright position and looks around the dark room]
Ben: Alex?
[Ben leans over and turns on his bedside lamp. Locke walks up from a corner pointing his gun at Ben]
Ben John!
Locke: Shhhh. [Whispering] Keep your voice down.
Ben: [Calmly] All right. It's all right, John. You don't have to point the gun at me. I can tell you where Jack is.
Locke: I'm not looking for Jack. I'm looking for the submarine. The submarine...where is it?
Ben: I'm not sure what you mean, John. What submarine?
Locke: The one you use to travel to and from the island. The one your man Mikhail told me about...right before I killed him.
Alex: [Outside Ben's bedroom door] Dad? Who are you talking to?
Ben: Alex, don't come in here!
[Locke crosses to the door and opens it. Alex is standing there. From the front door of the house comes a loud knocking. Locke looks at the front door, then grabs Alex and forces her into Ben's bedroom]
Alex: What...what...dad...ahh!
[Locke grabs her from behind and covers her mouth with his hand]
Locke: [Speaking to Ben] Tell her to be quiet!
Ben: Alex! Please!
Tom: [From outside the front door] Ben?! You awake?!
[Locke drags Alex into a closet in Ben's bedroom]
Alex: No! Oooh!
Tom: [From outside the front door] I'm coming in!
[Tom and another man walk into the room. Only Tom is visible to Locke as he watches from the closet door]
Ben: What is it?
Tom: It's Austen and Jarrah. They're here. Somehow they found us.
Ben: Where are they now?
Tom We captured them. We're holding them over at my place. Want me to help you get out there?
Ben: No. Separate them. I want to know how they found us.
Tom What about Juliet and Shephard? Tomorrow in the morning...
Ben: Let me worry about that. Just go.
Tom Got it.
Ben: Richard? Wait a minute.
Tom I'll wait outside.
[Tom leaves and Richard comes closer to Ben's bed. He is in shadows and his features are not visible]
Ben: I want you to bring me the man from Tallahassee.
Richard Alpert: What do you need him for?
Ben: Just do it. Now.
Richard Alpert: Ok.
[Richard leaves. Locke and Alex come out of the closet]
Locke: The man from Tallahassee? What is that...some kind of code?
Ben: No, John, unfortunately we don't have a code for "There's a man in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head". Although...we obviously should.
Locke: Sayid...he had a pack with him. [Pointing at Alex] I want her to retrieve it.
Ben: [Confused] Okay...[More for Alex's benefit] But you should know that my daughter currently hates me. So I'm not sure holding me hostage is your best option.
Alex: Dad! [Speaking to Locke] I'll get your bag.
[Later]
[Cut to interior of Ben's house in his bedroom. Locke is sitting in a chair watching Ben who is still lying in bed]
Ben: Would you mind helping me get into my chair? No tricks, I promise. I just want some dignity. You of all people should understand what it means to want some dignity.
[Locke gets up and goes to find the wheelchair]
Ben: Thank you. So, tell me John. How do you expect to pilot our submarine? I mean, it's a complicated piece of machinery. You don't just press "Submerge"
.
[Locke brings the wheelchair over to the bed]
Locke: I'll figure something out. For all you know I was a Commander in the Navy. Put your arm around my neck. I'll lift under your knees.
Ben: What's in the pack, John? If you met Mikhail that means you were in the communications station. Which means you found the explosives. So you're not planning to pilot the submarine anywhere, are you? You're planning to destroy it. I know you, John Locke.
Locke: You don't know me at all.
Ben: I know you were born in California. I know you were raised in foster care. I know you wasted a big part of your life in Tustin, pushing papers at a company that manufactured industrial boxes. I know you spent the 4 years prior to your arrival on this island in a wheelchair. And I know how you ended up in it. Tell me, John...did it hurt?
Locke: I felt my back break. What do you think?
[Later]
[Scene shifts back to Locke looking out a window from Ben's home]
Ben: It wasn't easy you know...being in that hatch with you all the time...knowing you had no business walking around...knowing I couldn't even ask you about it without telling you who I really was.
Locke: So ask me now. Now that I know who you really are.
Ben: Was it immediate? It started the moment you got here?
Locke: Yeah.
Ben: And you were just walking? The feeling returned right after the crash? That day?
Locke: That's what immediate means Ben. Your wondering why it hasn't happened for you. You're not recovering as fast as you'd like. How long's it been since Jack fixed ya? A week? Now that I think about it, how'd you get sick in the first place?
Ben: Are you afraid it will go away, John? Is that why you want to destroy the submarine? Because you know if you ever leave this island you'll be back in the chair?
Locke: [Ignoring the question] You got anything to eat?
[Later]
[the scene shifts to Locke pushing Ben's wheelchair into the living room. Ben turns on a light]
Locke: Where do you get electricity?
Ben: We have 2 giant hamsters running on a massive wheel at our secret underground cave...
Locke: Yeah, that's funny.
Ben: There's leftovers in the refrigerator. Help yourself.
[Locke walks into the kitchen, opens the refrigerator, and takes out an aluminum foil covered plate of meat]
Ben: I ate most of the dark meat. Sorry.
[Locke starts eating the meat with his hands]
Locke: Hmm. I never really...appreciated chicken until right now.
Ben: I know you think you need to do this, John, but if you blow up my submarine, I have a big problem with my people.
Locke: Is that supposed to be an incentive not to blow it up?
Ben: I was born on this island. Not many of my people can say that. Most of them were recruited and brought here and as much as they love this place...as much as they would do anything to defend it...they need to know they can leave if they want to. The sub maintains that illusion.
Locke: So you're lying to them.
Ben: [Frustrated] No. There here because they want to be here. Some of them are just not ready to make a full...commitment yet. But you John...you've already made that commitment. And now you have a choice...because if you stop and think, I can show you things. Things I know you want to see very badly. Let me put it so you'll understand. Picture a box. You know something about boxes, don't you John? What if I told you that somewhere on this island there's a very large box...and whatever you imagined...whatever you wanted to be in it...when you opened that box, there it would be. What would you say about that, John?
Locke: I'd say I hope that box is big enough to imagine yourself up a new submarine.
Ben: Why are you so angry, John?
Locke: Because you're cheating. You and your people. Communicate with the outside world whenever you want to you...you come and go as you please...you use electricity and running water and guns...you're a hypocrite...a Pharisee. You don't deserve to be on this island. If you had any idea what this place really was...you wouldn't be putting chicken in your refrigerator.
Ben: You've been here 80 days, John. I've been hear my entire life. So how is it you think you know this island better than I do?
Locke: Because you're in the wheelchair and I'm not.
[Locke looks out the window and sees Alex coming back. She opens the door and enters and Ben turns to her]
Ben: Did you have any problems?
[She shakes her head no and Locke takes Sayid's backpack from her]
Locke: Okay. Here's how this is gonna work. She's gonna take me to the sub. Once were there, I let her go.
Ben: John, she's done enough. Let me take you.
Locke: I don't want you to slow me down. [To Alex] Come on. Let's go.
Ben: John, before you go you should know...Jack and I made a deal. In less than an hour he's leaving the island on that submarine and it's a 1 way ticket. The anomaly wiped out our communications. We have no way of contacting the outside world. Which means when that sub leaves, it can never come back. So whether you destroy the submarine or whether you let it go, the end result is the same. No one will find this island.
Locke: [To Alex] Let's go. Come on.
[They leave the house and start walking toward the sub]
Alex: You know he's manipulating you, right?
Locke: How's that?
Alex: That's what my father does. He manipulates people. He makes you think it's your idea, but it's his.
Locke: I'll have to keep that in mind.
[They walk through some woods and a submarine is visible next to a dock]
Alex: The submarines down there. At the end of the dock.
Locke: I'm sorry I had to involve you in this.
Locke trots down to the dock. From the woods Danielle watches the scene and for the first time in 16 years, she sees Alex as Alex walks away. Alex does not see her. The scene shifts to Locke walking down the pier and climbing down into the submarine. He walks down the sub's hallway and turns on the lights. The scene then shifts to Ben who is putting away the leftovers in the fridge when Jack and Juliet walk into the kitchen]
Jack: Look I know you don't owe me anything, but I need to ask you for one last favor.
Ben: You don't knock?
Jack” I need you to let my friends go...after I'm gone.
Ben: And if I said no would that stop you from leaving?
Jack: [Nodding yes] Of course it would.
Ben: Your friends are only here to rescue you, but you seem to be doing a good job of rescuing yourself so...I suppose there's no reason to keep them here.
Jack: Do I have your word on that?
Ben: You have my word.
[Ben rolls his chair forward and shakes hands with Jack]
Ben: I'll let them go, just as soon as you've left the island.
[Jack walks away and Ben turns to Juliet]
Ben: Well, I guess this is it.
Juliet: Thank you, Ben...for keeping your promise.
[Ben smiles, they turn, and walk out the door and the scene shifts to a soaked Locke who is walking from the peer when he is spotted by Ryan, Tom, Jack, Juliet, and others]
[Later]
[The scene shifts to Locke who is handcuffed to an overhead pipe in a dark room. The door opens and Richard Alpert and Ben enter]
Ben: Well, John, you've really gone and done it now.
Locke: You don't have to pretend to be disappointed anymore. We both know you wanted it to happen. That's why you left the C4 in Sayid's bag because you wanted me to make it happen.
Ben: Uncuff him please, Richard.
[Richard steps forward to uncuff Locke]
Richard Alpert: You gonna do anything stupid?
Locke: No sir.
[Richard uncuffs Locke]
Ben: Do you remember earlier, John, when you called me a cheater...when you said I didn't deserve to live on this island? Well get this, there I was shaking hands with Jack and thinking I'd give almost anything to come up with a way to stop him from leaving...because to let him go would be a sign of weakness, of failure, of defeat. People would see that. They would know it. And that, John, would be the end of me. But to kill him...that would be cheating...because my people also heard me make a promise and to break my word...that would be the end of me too. And then you came striding out of the jungle, John, to make my dream come true.
Locke: You're not gonna start talking about the magic box again are you?
Ben: No John. I'm gonna show you what came out of it.
[Locke is surprised and Richard helps Locke to his feet. Richard then pushes Ben's wheelchair as they walk down the hall]
Ben: When I asked you earlier if it hurt when you suffered your injury, I think you misunderstood me. Seems fairly obvious that when a person's back smashes into a hard surface after being thrown from a building, that that's gonna sting a little. But I really wasn't asking about the physical pain.
Locke: What you wanna know if it hurt my feelings?
Ben: No John. I wanted to know what it felt like when your own father tried to kill you. He's the reason you destroyed the submarine, isn't he? You're afraid. You're afraid of him and this is the one place he can never find you. This is the one place he can never get to.
Locke: What do you want from me?
Ben: I don't know how it happened, but you seem to have some communion with this island, John, and that makes you very very important. You have no idea what you're talking about of course, but in time you'll have a better understanding of things. So what do I want? I want to help you, John.
Locke: Why?
Ben: Because I'm in a wheelchair and you're not. Are you ready to see?
[Richard takes the keys and opens the door. A hissing sound is heard when it opens and Locke looks inside to see his father, Anthony, looking terrified, beaten, bound, gagged, and sitting in a chair]
Locke: Dad?
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