Widmore thinks the world of Desmond, has paintings of scale with black & white rocks

Desmond enters Charles Widmore's office in Los Angeles and is met by Widmore with a bit hug.

Once we come back, we see Desmond staring at a model sail boat on Widmore's wall, possibly having a slight memory of his boat in the original timeline. Widmore is on the phone telling someone to get Charlie arraigned and get him out of there.

Widmore tells Desmond that his son is a musician (Daniel Faraday/Widmore) who is playing his wife's (Eloise Hawking/Widmore) charity event with the band Driveshaft. He asks Desmond to keep an eye on Charlie and make sure that he makes it to the event.

Widmore tells Desmond that he has a great life because he has no family, commitments or attachments, but Desmond doesn't seem convinced that it's so great. Widmore then opens a bottle of MacCutcheon's whiskey and shares a shot with Desmond, telling him that "Nothing's too good for you."

So clearly, this entire scenario is backwards. Instead of loathing Desmond and deeming a shot of MacCutcheon's being worth more than his life, Widmore loves Desmond and says nothing is too good for him. And there's so much more to come.

Also, if you look on the wall in Widmore's office, there are two paintings of a scale with black and white rocks on either side. One has a white frame and the other is black. In both of them, the rocks on each side seem fairly balanced.

Locke removes white stone from the scale + ankh, lute, compass

Once Locke and Sawyer enter the cave, we see a scale with a white stone and black stone in balance. Locke removes the white stone and throws it into the ocean, telling Sawyer that it's an inside joke (presumably between he and Jacob).

On the table in the cave there is also a compass, an ankh and a lute (the stringed instrument you can see below). I wonder if Jacob would hang out here and play a few tunes?

When Sawyer asks if they are there to see the rocks on a scale, Locke lights a torch and leads him further into the cave. The interior cave will be a big post, so it will be separate.